=Distribution.=--A native of Europe. It has been frequently planted and
often escapes.
Specimens have been seen from the following Indiana counties: Benton
(Deam); Clark (Deam); Laporte (Deam); Switzerland (Deam); Union (Deam);
Wells (Deam).
=Economic Uses.=--This species and the white willow are introduced from
Europe and extensively grown for the production of charcoal to use in
powder making.
=5.= =Salix díscolor= Muhlenberg. Pussy Willow. Swamp Willow. Glaucous
Willow. Plate 14. Shrub or small tree, 2-4 or occasionally 7-5 m. (7-15
or 25 feet) high; bark thin, usually smooth, reddish brown; twigs
stoutish, reddish-purple to dark brown, often pubescent (see the
variety); buds large, 5-10 mm. (1/5-2/5 inch) long, colored as the
twigs; stipules large, mostly roundish, entire or toothed; leaves
short-lanceolate to elliptic or elliptic-oblanceolate, acute or
short-acuminate at the apex, rounded or acute at the base, 5-10 cm. (2-4
inches) long, 2-3.5 cm. (4/5-1-1/2 inches) wide, nearly entire to
coarsely wavy-toothed on the margins, dark shining green above, densely
glaucous and occasionally somewhat pubescent beneath, especially on
midrib and primaries; flowers appear in late March or in April before
the leaves; catkins sessile, on old wood, stout, dense, the staminate
very beautiful (pussies), without leaf-bracts at base, 2-5 cm. (1-2
inches) long, the pistillate becoming 3-8 cm. (1-1/2-3 inches) long in
fruit; scales elliptic-oblanceolate, densely clothed with long shining
hairs; capsules conic-rostrate, 7-10 or 12 mm. (1/4-1/2 inch) long,
densely gray-woolly; pedicels 1.5-3 mm. (1/16-1/8 inch) long.
=Distribution.=--Nova Scotia south to Delaware and west to the eastern
edge of the Great Plains area. Fairly well distributed over the entire
State of Indiana. Specimens have been seen from the following counties:
Allen (Deam); Dearborn (Deam); Decatur (Deam); Elkhart (Deam); Fulton
(Deam); Gibson (Schneck); Hancock (Mrs. Chas. C. Deam); Henry (Deam);
Jackson (Deam); Jay (Deam); Jefferson (Deam); Jennings (Deam); Knox
(Deam); Lake (Deam); Marion (Mrs. Chas. C. Deam); Marshall (Deam);
Newton (Deam); Porter (Deam); Randolph (Deam); Ripley (Deam); Shelby
(Mrs. Chas. C. Deam); Sullivan (Deam); Tippecanoe (Deam); Wabash (Deam);
Warren (Deam); Wayne (Deam); Wells (Deam); White (Deam).
=5a.= =Salix discolor= variety =eriòcéphala= (Michaux) Andersson.
Differs from the species chiefly in rather densely pubescent twigs and
buds; thicker and more lanceolate leaves, usually more or less pubescent
beneath; and the sometimes more densely pubescent catkins.
[Illustration: Plate 14.