270 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



erect, but inclining to one side, with a darkish bark furrowed, 

 on old trees, with pretty deep furrows. The branches are very 

 spreading, of a whitish green, with long dark cracks. The 

 smaller branches are of a greenish yellow, and smooth. The 

 terminal shoots are long, slender, dependent, of a bright yellow 

 color. The leaves are long, lanceolate, finely serrate, tapering 

 at both extremities, of a polished green above when mature, 

 whitish-glaucous beneath, more or less covered with silky hairs 

 when young. The footstalk is short, often with a dark gland 

 at the base of the leaf on each side. 



Sp. 15. The Weeping Willow. & Babylonica. L. Introduced. 



The tree is figured in Loudon, VII, Plate 207. 



Leaves lanceolate, acuminate, finely serrated, glabrous, glaucous beneath; 

 stipules minute, roundish ; aments opening with the leaves ; ovaries ovate, 

 sessile, glabrous; branches pendulous. — Pvrsh. 11,614; Willd. IV, 671 ; 

 Loudon, III, 1507. 



A native of the banks of the Euphrates, near Babylon, of 

 China, and of the north of Africa. It is supposed to have been 

 introduced into Europe by the celebrated botanist, Tournefort, 

 the great predecessor of Linnaeus. Tournefort returned from 

 his voyage to the Levant in 1702, at which time this willow 

 must have been introduced. It is now extensively cultivated, 

 as an ornamental tree, in those parts of Europe, as well as Asia, 

 the north of Africa, and America, whose climate is favorable to 

 its growth. It is almost every where considered a funereal tree, 

 and has, in many places, taken the place of the cypress, in 

 church-yards. To no other willow does the descriptive line of 

 the poet of nature so well apply : — 



and gracefully 



The willow, a perpetual mourner, drooped." 



It is found in most parts of New England, although the cli- 

 mate is rather too cold for it, as is shown by the fact that the 

 branches often fail of ripening their wood, and are consequently 

 killed by the succeeding winter. 



A singular variety of this willow called the ring-leaved wil- 

 low, with curled or twisted leaves, is cultivated as a curiosity. 



