SALICACEAE - Willow Family
Trees or shrubs with deciduous, alternate, and simple leaves
Plants are dioecious with unisexual, naked flowers in dense catkins
Fruit a capsule with many hairy
seeds, the hairs aid in wind dispersal
2 genera, 340 species
Salix - 300 species,
willows
Populus
- 40 species, aspen,
cottonwoods (this name comes from the hairs attached to the
seed)
Economic importance: ornamentals, basket weaving, pulpwood,
Medicinal uses - aspirin is a derivative of salicyclic acid and
is found in the inner bark of Salix
Diagnostic characteristics - woody, flowers in catkins, fruit a
capsule with hairy seeds
IMAGE GALLERY
FLOWERING
PLANT GATEWAY