Salix

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of apetalous trees and shrubs, the willows, type of order Salicineæ, and characterized by a disk or perianth reduced to one or two distinct glands, and a one-celled ovary with a short two-cleft style, and two placentæ each bearing commonly from four to eight ovules, arranged in two ranks. Unlike those of Populus, the other genus of the order, the leaves are commonly long and narrow, the catkins are dense, erect, and at first covered by a single bud-scale, the flowers sessile, stigma short, stamens usually but two, the bracts entire, and the seeds few in each two-valved capsnle. There are over 160 species enumerated, often of very difficult limitation from the number of connecting forms and of hybrids. They are natives of all northern and cold regions, rare in the tropics, and very few in the southern hemisphere. One species only is known in South Africa, and one in South America, native in Chili; none occurs in Australasia or Oceanica. About 20 are native to the northeastern United States; and they are still more numerous northward, 10 species being reported from Point Barrow in Alaska alone. They are trees or shrubs, generally with long lithe branches and elongated entire or minutely toothed leaves, often with conspicuous stipules. A few alpine species are prostrate, and form matted turfs or send up small herb-like branches from underground stems. S. arctica, a wide-spread species of the far north, extends to latitude 81° 44′ N., in the form, at sea-level, of dwarf shrubs a foot high, but with a trunk an inch thick. The catkins are conspicuous; in temperate climates they are usually put forth before the leaves, but in colder regions they commonly appear nearly at the same time. Most species grow along streams, and many are widely planted to consolidate banks, and thus have become extensively naturalized. Many are found in a fossil state. See willow, osier, and sallow; also cuts under ament, inflorescence, lanceolate, and retuse.

Wiktionary

1. n. A taxonomic genus within the family Salicaceae — the willows.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A genus of trees or shrubs including the willow, osier, and the like, growing usually in wet grounds.
2. n. A tree or shrub of any kind of willow.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a large and widespread genus varying in size from small shrubs to large trees: willows