12 The Ohio Naturalist [Vol. IV, No. 1, 



the half-way forms from which, tinfortunately, the type was 

 taken. The extreme forms are generally low, not more than one 

 m. tall, and very bushy in habit, making them easih* distinguish- 

 able from the typical forms of the species at a distance. Rarely, 

 however, it grows into a more open shrub eight or ten feet tall. 



In its flowering habits it carries the peculiarities of vSalix inte- 

 rior to an extreme. The species has a habit of sending out sec- 

 ondary aments just below the first to open, so continuing the 

 flowering period until late in the season. In the variety these 

 secondary catkins become so prominent that the inflorescence 

 sometimes takes on a cymose character. Half a dozen catkins 

 are often seen in a cluster, all of about the same age. In the 

 species thej^ come on one by one and are much less noticeble even 

 when as numerous. The flowering period is also distinctly later 

 than with the species. On Cedar point it seems to beat its height 

 about the first of July and continues through the month, tapering 

 off into August. The species growing near by has b}^ the first of 

 July almost passed its flowering time and only a few straggling 

 catkins can be found. It must be added in this coiniection that 

 nearly all of the plants are staminate. Not over i per cent, of 

 them are carpellate. What significance this ma}- have cannot be 

 told as yet. 



Altogether the variety is so different from the sj^ecies that it 

 would be taken for a distinct species on first sight. Because of 

 numerous intermediates such an assumption could not be main- 

 tained, but it is the best marked willow variety we have in the 

 State. 



Salix pentandra in Ohio. 



Salix poitain/ra, the European species corresponding to .V^r//. r 

 I Hilda, is not infrequently cultivated in Ohio for its twigs, which 

 are of good quality for basket weaving. It is very similar to the 

 American species and in some forms they can hardly be distin- 

 guished. But the European species never has the very long 

 attenuate, ovate leaves so characteristic of vigorous shoots of 

 Salix liicida. Its leaves are rather thinner and less glossy, not so 

 different from the ordinary willow leaf as those of Salix Incida. 



Salix poi/aiidra has not, to my knowledge, been reported as an 

 escape in America. At least it is not included in the Manuals. 

 This makes it of considerable interest to note that two plants 

 have been detected escaped in Ohio. One is from Bridgeport, 

 Belmont county, by Dr. W. A. Kellerman, the other from Co- 

 lumbus. Any possible uncertainty as to identification owing to 

 the similarity to the native species, is nnich reduced by the fact 

 that both cases are in territory out of the range of Salix Incida, 

 which occurs only in the northern part of the State. The reports 

 of the collectors also make it certain that the plants were really 

 wild and not cultivated. 



