SALICACEAE

family of shrubs and trees comprising poplars and willows, order Salicales, concentrated in northern temperate areas. The leaves are alternate and simple. The two sexes almost always occur on separate trees, organized in catkins of many individual flowers. Staminate (male) flowers consist of from one to many stamens; pistillate (female) flowers of a one-chambered ovary with several to many ovules (potential seeds). The fruits, usually capsules, open to release the seeds, each with silky hairs at one end.