10 THE BRITISH WILLOWS 



Pentandrje. 



1. Salix pentandra L. Sp. PI. 1016 (1753). Sm. in Eees 

 Cycl. No. 12. Anderss. Monogr. i. 35. Wimmer, Sal. Eur. p. 22. 

 Anderss. in DC. Prodr. xvi. (2), 206. Syme, E. B. viii. 202. 

 B. White, Revision, 359. Camus, Monogr. 84. Seemen, p. 61. 



Icon. E. Bot. t. 1805. Fl. Dan. t. 943. Anderss. Monogr. t. ii. 

 f. 24. Camus, Atlas, t. 4, a-i. Forbes, t. 34. 



Exs. Hb. Linn. Nos. 1-3. Billot, 1065. Wimmer, Sal. 

 Relict. (Herb. Sal. 49 ; Coll. Sal. 7, 8). Leefe, Sal. Brit. Nos. 1, 2. 

 E. F. & W. R. Linton, British Willows, No. 1. Toepffer, 

 Nos. 33-35, 75. 



A bush or small tree, rising to 20 ft. Branches glabrous, 

 grooved while young, at length polished brown or reddish-brown, 

 fragile at the base. Stipules oval or ^-cordate gland-ciliate, cadu- 

 cous. Petioles with 1-3 pairs of glands (sometimes subfoliaceous) 

 near the top. Leaves glabrous ; blades 2-4 in. long by -f-1 in. 

 broad, oval or obovate-oblong to obovate- or oblong-lanceolate, 

 acute, rounded at the base, finely gland-serrate, ciliate with 

 glutinous glands, glossy or deep green above, pale green and 

 reticulate with deep green veins beneath, fragrant (like bay). 



Catkins opening rather later than the leaves in May or June, 

 broad, dense-flowered ; peduncles elongate leafy, erect to curved ; 

 rachis woolly-pubescent ; staminate catkins 1-1^ in. long, rounded 

 at the top, bracts oblong or Ungulate obtuse pubescent near the 

 base, glabrous above ; stamens usually 5 (4-8) ; filaments long, 

 crowded, pilose in the lower half ; anthers golden yellow. Pistil- 

 late catkins 1-2 in. long, ovaries at length £ in. long, subulate to 

 ovoid-subulate, glabrous, shortly pedicelled, lower pedicels at 

 length twice as long as the short bipartite nectaries ; style short 

 or 0, stigmas large 2-lobed, spreading. 



This species varies much in the breadth of the leaves. Andersson 

 (/. c.) makes three leaf varieties, latifolia, angustifolia, and micro- 

 phylla, which are, however, not more distinct than others based on 

 the size of the catkins. A good-sized tree growing in deep peat 

 or in rich soil produces large broad leaves ; a drier climate or a 

 poorer soil may contribute to the occurrence of narrower-leaved 

 forms, such as are commoner on the Continent than with us. 



8. pentandra is a lowland species, which is said to be native 

 as far south as Carnarvonshire, Salop, Notts, and Lincolnshire 

 (naturalized or planted southwards), and is generally distributed, 

 though local, over the North of England and the Lowlands of 

 Scotland. It is plentiful and native in the Northern Counties of 

 Ireland, and becomes scarcer southward, where it is more com- 

 monly than not planted. On the Continent it is distributed 

 through North Europe at low levels, in Central Europe in moun- 

 tainous regions, extending as far south as the Pyrenees, Piedmont, 

 the Balkans ; Caucasus, Siberia ; North America. 

 S. alba x pentandra (p. 19). 

 S.fragilis x pentandra (p. 15). 



