Leaf: Alternate, simple; blades very narrow, pointed at the tip tapering to the base, to 4 inches long, less than one-half inch broad, with widely spaced teeth along the edges, green and usually smooth on both surfaces when mature; leafstalks nearly absent.
Flower: Staminate and pistillate flowers borne on separate trees, minute, crowded into elongated catkins, appearing when the leaves are partly grown.
Fruit: Several flask-shaped, brownish, smooth or silky capsules up to one-eighth inch long, crowded in elongated clusters.
Twig: Slender, grayish-green, smooth; leaf scars alternate, u-shaped, with 3 bundle traces.
Bark: Gray, furrowed, broken into rough scales.
Form: Small tree to 25 feet tall; trunk diameter less than 1 foot; crown irregular.
Habitat: Along streams, often forming thickets.
Range: Quebec across to Alaska, south to Oklahoma and Arkansas, east to Maryland.
Location: North side of Bunker Hill High School Campus.
Latitude: 39o02.48N
Longitude: 089o57.70W
One of its uses is fuel.
© Community Unit School District #8, Bunker Hill
504 E. Warren, Bunker Hill, IL 62014
References:
Little, Elbert L. Field Guide to Trees: Eastern Region. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1980.
Mohlenbrock, Robert H. Forest Trees of Illinois. Springfield, IL: 1992