Help ID please

[tooln]

Was fixing fence today and found this just a little off the line. It has needles like a pine and leaves like any other tree. Any one have any idea what it is. Thanks

 

[wiscwhip]

I had a post typed up about the willows we have flowering on the marsh trail where we walk our dog but it didn't post up they other day when I wrote it. They look very similar to this, albeit not quite as "conifer-like" as the ones in tooln's photo. You can plainly see by the leaves that these are definitely willows.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

i believe those clusters of "needles" are called catkins. Willows produce catkins. They are unisex flowers and are usually wind pollinated.

 

[wiscwhip]

That they are phil and yes usually wind or gravity pollinated.