THE BRITISH WILLOWS 11 



ii. Amygdalina. 



2. Salix triandra L. Sp. PI. 1016. Wade, Essay, p. 6. Seringe, 

 Essai, p. 75. Sm. in Kees Cycl. 3 ; Engl. Fl. iv. 166. Leefe in 

 Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinb. i. 158, 159 (1844). Anderss. Monogr. i. 

 23 ; DC. Prodr. xvi. (2), 202. Wimmer, Sal. Eur. 12. Syme, 

 E. B. viii. 215. B. White, Eevision, 347. Hartman, p. 361. 

 Seemen, iv. p. 74. — S. amygdalina L. Sp. PI. 1016. Sm. in Kees 

 Cycl. 7; Engl. Fl. iv. 169. Anderss. Sal. Lapp. 17. Doell, p. 489. 



Icon. Hoffm. Hist. Sal. t. 23. E. B. 1435, and as S. amygda- 

 lina, 1936. Forbes, Sal. Wob. tt. 15, 18 (S. amygdalina). Camus, 

 Atlas, pi. 5, 6. 



Exs. Hb. Linn. Nos. 15, 22. Hb. Smith (S. amygdalina). Wim- 

 mer, Sal. Eelict. (Herb. Sal. 38, 51, 122 ; Coll. Sal. 13, 14). Leefe, 

 Sal. Brit. exs. Nos. 4, 7, 8 ; Sal. exs. Nos. 49, 105. Hb. B. White, 

 Nos. 238, 239, 277, 395, 396. E. F. & W. R. Linton, No. 26. 

 Toepffer, Nos. 42, 43, 50, 244. 



A large shrub or small tree, 15-30 ft. high, lax in habit, bark 

 loose and flaking off old stems, twigs rather fragile at the base, + 

 furrowed when young, glabrous almost from the first ; buds 

 ovoid, soon glabrous. Stipules common, broad roundish or bluntly 

 pointed, rather persistent ; petioles with 2 or 3 glands near the 

 top. Leaf-blades very variable, 1-4 in. long by §-lJ in. broad, 

 oblong-lanceolate or ovate-oblong acuminate, evenly serrate, gla- 

 brous (or slightly pubescent on opening), dark green and some- 

 what shining above, paler green (f. concolor) or more commonly 

 glaucous (f. discolor) beneath. 



Catkins coeval with (or $ even before) the leaves, in late April 

 or May, on short leafy peduncles, slender erect or spreading, 

 basal leaves usually serrate ; staminate catkins 1^-2 in. long, 

 bracts obovate hairy only below or ciliate, stamens 3, filaments 

 pilose at the base ; nectaries double ; pistillate catkins 1J-2 in. 

 long, bracts glabrous or ciliate and glabrescent above, pilose near 

 the base, narrow oblong or rarely linear-lanceolate, yellowish. 

 Ovaries \-^ in. long, conical then ovoid, glabrous, often reddened 

 in exposure, long-pedicelled ; pedicels elongating, at length 3-4 

 times as long as the short broad single nectaries ; stigmas sessile, 

 short, thick. 



The leaves of this species vary so much that many varieties 

 have been based on the leaf-blades only. Wimmer arranges these 

 under chief forms : — (a) vulgaris, with leaf-blades narrowly oblong, 

 equally narrowed at both ends, acute rather than acuminate ; 

 (f3) angustifolia, leaf-blades elongate linear-oblong or oblong- 

 lanceolate acuminate; (y) Villarsiana, branches short, leaves small 

 short oval or narrow-oval. Each of these forms is sub -divided into 

 those with glaucous and those with green under side of leaf-blade. 



Andersson remarks that there are so many forms of leaf and 

 catkin which have sported freely, that it is hard to define the 

 leading varieties ; and then gives four ; the first pair (a and fi) are 

 distinguished by the glaucous or green colouring of the under 

 side of the leaf-blade, each of which has a f. latifolia, f. angusti- 



c 2 



