Salix nigra Marsh.
HABIT.—A tree 30-50 feet high, with a short trunk, 1-2 feet in diameter; stout, spreading branches form a broad, rather irregular, open crown. Often a shrub.
LEAVES.—Alternate, simple, 3-6 inches long, 1/4-3/4 inch broad; lanceolate, very long-pointed, often curved at the tip; finely serrate; thin; bright green and rather lustrous above, paler and often hairy beneath; petioles very short, more or less pubescent.
FLOWERS.—April-May, with the leaves; dioecious; borne in crowded, slender, hairy catkins, 1-3 inches long; calyx 0; corolla 0; scales yellow, villous, stamens 3-6; ovary ovoid-conical, short-stalked, with stigmas nearly sessile.
FRUIT.—June; ovoid-conical capsule, 1/8 inch long, containing many minute seeds which are furnished with long, silky, white hairs.
WINTER-BUDS.—Terminal bud absent; lateral buds narrow-conical, acute, lustrous, red-brown, 1/8 inch long.
BARK.—Twigs glabrous or pubescent, bright red-brown, becoming darker with age; thick, dark brown or nearly black on old trunks, deeply divided into broad, flat ridges, often becoming shaggy.
WOOD.—Light, soft, weak, close-grained, light red-brown, with thin, whitish sapwood.
DISTRIBUTION.—Common throughout the state.
HABITAT.—Banks of streams and lake-shores.