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Trees with pale, ± furrowed bark. Winter buds with several imbricate scales. Lvs alternate; petiole usually long; stipules inconspicuous, caducous; lamina lanceolate-ovate to broad-ovate or deltoid, sometimes lanceolate in juvenile lvs, entire or dentate. Catkins pendulous, appearing before lvs. Fls anemophilous, each subtended by a bract; bract usually laciniate or toothed, rarely entire, quickly shrivelling. Perianth reduced to a cupular, oblique disc; glands 0. ♂ fls with 4-many stamens; filaments ± filiform; anthers generally red to purple, occasionally yellow. ♀ fls with short style; stigmas 2-4. Capsule 2-(4)-valved, often ripe before lvs are fully mature. Seeds numerous, minute.
Trees; trunk usually straight; bark furrowed or smooth, often gray or tan; pith mostly 5-angled in cross section. Terminal bud terete or angled; bud scales several, unequal. Stipules small, deciduous; petiole terete or laterally compressed; leaf blade usually ovate to deltoid-ovate. Flowering precocious; catkins pendulous. Flowers anemophilous; bracts apically lobed or laciniate, membranous, caducous; flowers with disc obliquely cupular. Male flower: stamens 4-many; filaments short, free; anthers dull red. Female flower: ovary 1-loculed; style 1, short or not; stigmas 2-4. Capsule 2-4(or 5)-valved. Seeds few to numerous, small. Cotyledons elliptic.
Trees; twigs mostly over 2 mm diam.; winter buds consisting of several overlapping, usually sticky scales, the shortest ones outermost. Leaves mostly over 5 cm wide, broadly elliptic to ovate, triangular, rhombic or cordate, sub-entire to deeply lobed; petiole at least ¼ length of lamina. Flowers of both sexes encircled at base by a laciniate or coarsely dentate floral bract and an obliquely cup-shaped gland. Stamens 4 to many; anthers red or purple. Stigmas 2, entire or bilobed. Capsule 2–4-valved, containing tightly packed cotton-like hairs. Seeds numerous.
Catkins drooping, appearing before the lvs, their scales toothed, lobed, fimbriate, or densely ciliate; each fl set on a cupulate, commonly oblique disk that may be homologous with the “glands” of Salix fls; stamens 5–80, on short filaments; styles 2–4-valved, trees or tall shrubs with soft, light wood, mostly ovate to deltoid, deciduous lvs, scaly, often viscid winter-buds, and elongate catkins that mature before the lvs are fully expanded in the spring. 40, widespread.
Trees. Buds with several unequal outer scales. Leaves on mature growth usually broad (juvenile foliage sometimes linear, ‘ Salix-like’). Disc cup-shaped, annular or fimbriate. Male flowers with 4–many stamens; anthers oblong. Female flowers with style very short, 2–4-branched, each branch entire or 2–3-fid. Capsule 2–4 valved.
