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KKVISIOX OF THE BBITISH. WILLOWS. 427 



argentea or arenaria of Salix repens, whence arose Linne's con- 

 fusion of the name arenaria. "Whilst the leaves are usually well- 

 clothed with pubescence, specimens occur which approach a gla- 

 brous condition, but in the abseuce of fruit cannot be identified with 

 Wimmer's var. Daphneola. The catkins vary a good deal iu size, 

 and the capsules both in shape and iu the structure of the styles 

 and stigmas. In flowers, which seem to be about the same age, 

 and hence comparable, one set has lanceolate-subulate subacute 

 capsules, distinctly pedicelled, but with the pedicel usually shorter 

 than and very rarely as long as the nectary; whilst another set 

 has ovate-conic smaller sessile capsules with longer styles. In 

 other respects the plants do not present much difference, and 

 intermediate forms connect the two sets. 



Though 8. Lapponum is most usually a truly alpine species, 

 rarely descending (in Central Scotland) below an altitude of 

 2000 feet or thereabouts above sea-level, it does occasionally 

 occur in the low ground. On the south side of the Ochil Hills, 

 in Perthshire, a few bushes (discovered by my friend Mr. "W. 

 Martin) grow at the edge of a field at an elevation of only 700 feet 

 above sea level. So far as I know, 8. Lapponum has not been 

 found in any other part of that range of hills, which, moreover, 

 are as regards that neighbourhood almost devoid of alpine plauts. 

 In this locality (which I have visited) it grows with S . pentandra , 

 and could not, to all appearance, have been brought down by 

 water from any sufficiently high altitude. 



As mentioned in the ' Student's Flora' and elsewhere, S. Lap- 

 ponum has also been found near Edinburgh. The recorded locality 

 is Colinton (sometimes erroneously written Collington) "Woods ; 

 and in Edinburgh University Herbarium is a specimen (with $ 

 catkins) collected there by Greville in 1824. More recently 

 1 have 8e en, in the same herbarium, other specimens, collected 

 ma ny years ago, from Craigcrook and Dalkeith "Woods, both of 

 which places are near Edinburgh. "Whether the species has any 

 claim to be considered native in these three localities, or whether 

 it still occurs there, local botanists must decide. 



In England this species has been found on Helvellyn only 

 (-8. King, 1880). 



S. Lapponum hybridizes with several other species, and some of 

 these hybrids have been found in Britain. Others probably 



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