209 



#rigi:nal g^rtrclcs. 



ON A FORM OF SJLIX AUBUSCULA, L., IN IRELAND. 

 Ry D. Moore, Ph.D., F.L.S., etc. 



This Willow, one of the least of the British kinds, is here con- 

 sidered to belong to the somewhat protean <S^. Arbmcula ; but other 

 good authorities, to whom specimens have been sent, incline to refer it 

 to 8. Mjjrsiuiles. Although not agreeing well with one or other of 

 these species, it certainly is more characteristic of the former, in having 

 the catkins stalked and bracteated ; the leaves smooth, of a shinins 

 green, and exstipulate ; the styles of the ovaries deeply cleft, and the 

 stigmas bifid. It, however, differs from the forms described in Floras, 

 in having the r/ermens quite rjlabroua (excepting occasionally one or 

 two scattered liairs near the base of the style), in its short naked 

 pedicels to the ovaries, and in its truncate glands, as well as in the 

 much smaller size and general appearance. Our plant has been culti- 

 vated since the autumn of 18GG, and appears in perfect health, pro- 

 ducing abundance of female catkins, yet none of the branches arc more 

 than four inches long. In its native habitat only the points of the 

 branches with two or three leaves on each were visible above the moss 

 and stones among which it grew. The plant agrees better with the 

 figure of *S'. Arbmcula, in Salict. Woburn. t. 1.38, which was drawn 

 from a Swiss specimen, than with any other figure with which I have 

 compared it ; but in the description of that plant the gerraen is stated 

 to be downy, ovate, and sessile. The figure in Wahlenberg's Fl. Lap- 

 ponica, t. 16, f. 2., which Andersson, in his ' Monographia Salicum,' 

 quotes as forma mi)ior, has also doicmj germens. In general appear- 

 ance our plant bears much resemblance to Salix OraJiaini, Baker 

 (Journ. of Bot. vol. v. p. 157. t. 66), but this latter has very downy 

 pedicels. Mr. Baker informs me that there are examples in the late 

 Mr. Borrer's collection at Kew, which were gathered Ijy Mr. IJall on 

 the Sow of Athol, which exactly agree with our plant, excepting 

 that the pedicels of the former are downy. 



The locality where the plant grows is on the top of Muckish moun- 

 tain, county Donegal, and it was collected in September, 1866. It 



V(JL. VIII. [jULY 1, 1870.] Q 



