

386 



DR. F. BUCHANAN WHITE S 



At the same time it has a certain range of variation. The year- 

 old twigs and the buds, which are normally glabrous, are not 

 ^infrequently slightly, and sometimes decidedly, pubescent ; the 

 leaves, while typically roundly-oval, vary both in size and shape, 

 being sometimes oblong, and at others much attenuate at each 

 end — this latter form being, perhaps, more frequently found m 

 northern and mountainous districts; and the catkins, though 

 usually sessile or subsessile, are not very rarely provided with a 

 leafy peduncle. Of this latter form 1 have found some rather 

 curious plants in Perthshire. These, in addition to having the 

 rather smaller catkins (in both sexes) furnished with a conspicu- 

 ously leafy peduncle, form dwarfer and more slender bushes than 

 is usually the case with Salix Caprea, and are later in flowering. 

 The leaves are, however, not dissimilar to the ordinary form of 

 the plant, and hence are not referable to the modification or variety 

 S. sphacelata, Sm. 



S. sphacelata, Sm., is now considered to be a subalpine form of S. 

 Caprea, though Wimraer, from the figure and description, thinks 

 that it may be referable to S. silesiaca. As well as differences in 

 the leaves, it is said to have smaller catkins than in S. Caprea ; 

 but, whilst for these reasons it seems to be a rather well-marked 

 form, I have seen too few specimens to be able to come to an 

 opinion about it. The examples in Smith's herbarium ("from 

 Mr. E. Forster's garden ") look to me somewhat like a hybrid 

 between S. Caprea and S. aurita. So in some respects do speci- 

 mens labelled " Salix sphacelata, Sm., Cult. Hort. Kew. J. &. 

 Baker ; " but these agree still better with "Wimmer's specimens 

 Coll. No. 185) of S. Caprea-cinerea ( = #. Beichardti) and, at 

 any rate, are not pure S. Caprea. 











X Salix Keichabdtj, A. Kern. (S. Caprea X S. cinerea.) 



S. Beichardti, A. Kern. (S. Caprea-cinerea, Wimm.), is a 

 hybrid between 5. Caprea and S. cinerea, which, according to 



very difficult to 



AVimmer, is 



group 



recognize on account of the close affinity of its parents 



As in Britain both S. Caprea and S. cinerea are common species, 

 the hybrid between them might be expected to occur not rarely ; 

 but such does not seem to be the case, perhaps because their 

 habitats are not quite identical (Caprea being a chiefly woodland, 







































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