1920] SCHNEIDER, NOTES ON AMERICAN WILLOWS. VIII 229 



c. SALTX WOLFII BEHB AND ITS SYSTEMATIC TOSITION 



Wlien Bebb described this interesting species he said of its possible af- 

 finity: " Resembles the foref^oing [S. Novae- An gliae, Anders., var. pscudo- 

 cordata And.] in habit and in the form of the leaves and amcnts, but dis- 

 tinguished by the perfectly smooth, reddish capsules, the black, scantily 

 villous scales, and the leaves colored alike on both sides; aments somewhat 

 as In S. Novae-Angliae, var. pscudo-myrsinites And., but that has beaked 

 capsules and glabrous, crenate leaves, which are membranous in texture and 

 prominently reticulate-veined." The forms to which Bebb alludes be- 

 long to sect. Cordatae, but S. Wolfii cannot be united with this section on 

 account of the presence of a dorsal gland in the male flowers, the sessile or 

 subsessile ovaries and capsules, and other minor characters which distin- 

 guish it widely from all the species of the Cordatae-gvoup. There arc, how- 

 ever, two Mexican species, S. Hariwegii Bentham and S. mexicana v. 

 Seemcn with which I have dealt in Bot. Gaz. lxv. 28 (1918), which have 



li re- 



such dorsal glands, and in the structure of the female flowers mucl 

 semble the species of the Cordatae. To this group S. Uariwcgii is usually 

 referred, but I am of the opinion that the two Mexicana Willows repre- 

 sent a distinct section which may be regarded as somewhat intermediate 

 between the Cordatae and the group to which S. Wolfii belongs. This is, 

 of course, no definite statement, because we are still far from having more 

 than a rather vague idea of the true relationship of a good many of the 

 American Willows. I think it best not to unite species of api)arently no 

 close affinity in the same group but to propose some new sections for those 

 forms which show good characters of their own. S. Wolfii is a species 

 which I cannot refer to any group of species of America or of the Old 

 World. I do not, however, at present propose a new section for it, I only 

 wish to signify its peculiar position. Ball referred it to his section Com- 

 mutatae in 1909, but as I have already explained on p. 148 under sect. 

 Adcnophyllae I do not think that it can be placed with the species of that 

 group on account of the dorsal gland in the male flowers. 



S. Wolfii Bebb apud Rothrock in Wheeler, Rep. U.S. Geogr. Surv. West 

 100. Merid. vi. Bot. 241 (1878). — Rydberg In Bull. N.Y. Bot. Gard. i. 

 276 (1899); Fl. Rocky Mts. (1917). — Ball apud Coulter & Nelson, 

 New Man. Rocky Mts. Bot. 134 (1909). — The type was collected by 

 Wolf & Rothrock, No. 280, in South Park, Colorado. I have seen all the 

 specimens cited by Bebb, and I give the following description because 

 Bebb's diagnosis is rather short and needs some additions. Frutex par- 

 vus erectus, fide Tidestrom ad 1 m. altus, breviter et dense plus minus ve 

 divaricato-ramosus ramis vix ad 6 mm. crassis; ramuli novelll subdense 

 tenuiter brcvitcrque sericeo-villosuli, hornotini flavescentes vel in sicco 

 saepe nigrescentes, annotini paullo laxius villosuli (rarius glabrati), flavo- 

 brunnei vel brunnescentes, circiter 1-1.5 cm. crassi, biennes vetustioresquc 

 brunnel vel fere atro-brunnei, saepe subnitidi, plerique glabri vel subglabri, 

 demum epidermide flavesccnte solubili sordide fuscescentes. Gemmae bene 



