225 



#ngrital girtklcs. 



ON HYBRIDirY IN SALTX, AND THE GROWTH OP 

 WILLOWS FROM SEED. 



By Rev. J. E. Lkefe, M.A., F.L.S. 



It would, I think, be iuterestino^ if such of the readers of the ' Journal 

 of Botany ' as have had opportunities of forming an opinion, would record 

 their observations on tlie growth of Willows from seed. The whole theory 

 as to the production of hybrids in this genus must depend upon their 

 growth from seed. If they do not spring readily from seed, then the 

 nice distinctions which separate closely allied forms, must be accounted 

 for in some other way than by crossing. 



The evidence on the subject seems to me as yet far from conclusive ; 

 still it is in some cases so positive that I by no means venture to say 

 that seedling Willows are not to be met with. It is fortunate that, owing 

 to W^illows being so readily propagated by cuttings, little inconvenience 

 will arise to cultivators should there prove to be generally a paucity of 

 seedlings. I wish now, without bringing forward any theory on the sub- 

 ject, to mention what I have collected from books, or from inquiries 

 amongst my botanical friends, or from my own observations as a collector 

 of Willows now for many years. Wiramer adopts thoroughly the idea of 

 hybrids, therefore of seedlings, but I am not able to quote his exact words, 

 having failed, through the booksellers, to obtain a copy of his interesting 

 work.* He says, I believe, that the great botanist Pries has to some 

 extent become a convert to his views. 



The late Professor Koch, in his ' Commentary on the European Willows,' 

 anno 1828, p. 9, remarks " Non ea difficultas sola turbat botaniciim in 

 hoc genere plantarum, qnpe in partium mutatione et vicissitudinibus 

 cernitur, alia ei creatur molestia in hybridarum copia, quas in hoc genere 

 exstare addubitari nequit." He then proceeds to instance the numerous 

 forms growing near Erlangen, intermediate between S. mhra, Huds., and 

 S. viminaUs, L., forms partaking so much of the characters of both species 

 as to make it difficult to refer specimens to one of these species rather 

 than tlie otlier. I am indebted to the kindness of Prof. Koch for a most 

 valuable collection of Willows grown in the arboretum at Erlangen, and, 

 amono-st the rest, for a specimen of one of the forms above referred to. I 

 should myself consider this particular specimen to be a remarkably pubescent 

 state of S. rubra, Huds., which the catkins appear most nearly to resem- 

 ble, while the pubescence of the leaves docs not show the silkiness of the 

 viminales. I do not know how far Prof. Koch retained to the last his 

 early views as to the hybrid growth of Willows. In his ' Synopsis,' bearing- 

 date 1837, there is no allusion, I think, to hybrids between the species 

 above mentioned. Moreover, whetiier or no Fries has of late a(lo])ted, 

 even partially, Wimnier's very pronounced views, I have not the mean* of 

 knowing; but in his ' Mantissa,' extending to the year 1842, pp. 559-60, 

 he combats this view. " Innumeras porro vidi Salices hybridas dictas ; 

 an ulla vero certa experientia hybrida sit comprobata, equidem nescio?" 

 At p. 100 he observes, ' magis vero perniciosam censcmus nimis credulam 



* Noticed in Journ. Bot. Vol. lY., pp. 383-38G. 

 VOL. IX. [august 1, 1871.] Q 



