108 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



is but short in comparison with other deciduous 

 trees, as it soon becomes hollow, and is easily upset 

 by winds. But, as I am about to show, it has powe r 

 of resuscitation which enable it to prolong or re- 

 new existence. 



The propagation of the Willow is easy enough, as 

 a mere branch, or stick, if planted, will grow ; but 

 after becoming hollow, and appearing to be an easy 

 prey to the tooth of time or any wind that may blow, 

 it is enabled by a remarkable process to send down 

 roots from above, which anchoring iu the soil, give 

 the Willow a fresh hold upon life, audits protracted 

 existence is thus secured. 



58. Peculiar growth of the head of Sali.v alba. 



A silvery feature is given to a landscape where 

 the waving willows by the brook-side predominate, 

 and are agitated by the wind. Even when denuded 

 of their leaves, the " willowy brook " may still be 

 traced, and the old pollards ranged along the bank, 

 like giants with huge distorted heads, and bent 

 towards the earth by the force of continued gales, 

 make a characteristic feature not to be mistaken. 

 I have noticed numerous old willows on the bauks 

 of the river Temein Worcestershire, which perhaps 

 more than any other English river is bordered with 

 willows in 1 every stage of age and decay, often 

 forming very grotesque objecls. As they are all 

 pollarded by the farmers on whose land they grow, 

 many of them form enormous heads on which in 

 ime a humus is deposited, and mosses accumulate ; 

 thus affording a nidus for seeds and berries to rest 

 upon and vegetate. In this manner epiphytes arise, 

 and it is curious to observe seedling oaks, haw- 

 thorns, alders, and hazels, and sometimes syca- 

 mores and ashes, besides smaller shrubs, growing 

 upon and mixing their foliage with the old pollard 

 willows. An old willow with its family of colo- 

 nists, among which are often many flowering plants 

 upon its wide-distorted head, thus makes a very 

 curious spectacle. 



As the Willow grows rapidly to maturity, its 

 duration is proportionally short, and, shattered by 



winds and storms, it bends in a decrepit state over 

 the streams on whose banks it grows — " stooping, 

 as if to drink," Cowper says, — and becoming hollow 

 with a still sprouting head, is easily overthrown. 

 Fallen willows often form rustic bridges, useful to 

 the wanderer in crossing streams where there is no 

 foot-path to aid his progress. 



-^AXNV"- }■ ■-,-'., :-,.../;,■ ■ ;;• '-" ' 

 Fig. 59. Aged hollow willow near Pawick. 



Nature gives some compensation to the Willow for 

 its short natural life by giving it means of resuscita- 

 tion iu several ways, and it clings to life with 

 remarkable energy. Even if the trunk be broken 

 and the head blown off, if the latter only retains the 

 slightest hold upon the tree, and in its fall is sup- 

 ported by a neighbour, the head produces an abun- 

 dant crop of branches, continuing to flourish not- 

 withstanding its prostration. I have sketched a 

 remarkable willow thus circumstanced, standing 

 near the river Teme, in the vicinity of Tenbury, 

 Worcestershire (see fig. 58). If a tree standing 

 upon the river-bank, close to the water, gets its 

 roots exposed by the bank being washed away, these 

 roots become leafy, and form so many fresh stems, 

 with a bush of verdure as the process goes on. In 

 this way the tree becomes duplicated ; the upper 

 portion above the bank, while the lower is below it, 

 and partly in the water. Sometimes, while the bole 

 of a willow has from some cause become decayed 

 and utterly dead, the lower part next the ground 

 retains vitality, throwing out a maze of shoots that 



