18 THE BRITISH WILLOWS 



1. Var. ccerulea Sm. 



Syn. S. alba fS ccerulea Smith, Engl. Fl. iv. 231. Sm. in 

 Eees Cycl. 141. Syme, E. B. ed. 3, viii. 211.— S. alba f. ccerulea 

 Wimmer, Seal. Eur. 18. B. White, Revision, p. 370.— S. alba, 

 C. ccerulea, Camus, Monogr. 75.— S. alba, D. ccerulea, Seemen, 

 iv. 80. 



Icon. E. Bot. t. 2431. Forbes, Sal. Wob. No. 137. 



Exs. Hb. Smith, " Mr. Crowe's garden." Magnier, No. 2839 

 (S. alba var. virescens F. Gerard). Toepffer, No. 101. 



A quick-growing tree, making valuable timber. Leaf-blades 

 of a bluish-green, or bluish-grey beneath ; pubescence somewhat 

 deciduous. Smith says the " under side of the leaves loses, at an 

 early period, most of its silky hairs." This glabrescence is per- 

 haps more strongly marked in East Anglia than elsewhere ; trees 

 planted in Norfolk by E. R. Pratt, Esq., were so glabrate that, in 

 the absence of fruit catkins, specimens were mistaken for S. 

 viridis Fr. (see his paper on the Cricket-bat Willow, sub nom. 

 S. viridis Fr. in Journ. Roy. Agricult. Soc. vol. 66 (1905), 

 pp. 19-34). 



S. alba var. ccerulea gives the best cricket-bat timber, justifying 

 Smith's remark, " its qualities are of the highest importance " 

 (Engl. Fl. iv. 232), and is the true " close-bark " of bat makers. 

 S. alba comes next in value, then S. viridis, while S. fragilis, 

 the " open-bark " of the makers in reference to its rugged trunk, 

 is barely serviceable for the poorest bats (see " The Cricket-bat 

 Willow," by W. T. Bean, Kew Bulletin, 1907, No. 8). 



2. Var. vitellina (Golden Willow). 



Syn. S. vitellina L. Sp. PI. 1016. Sm. Fl. Brit. 1050 ; Engl. 

 Fl. iv. 182. Wade, Essay, 102. — S. alba f. vitellina Wimmer, 

 Sal. Eur. 18. — S. alba, D. vitellina Camus, Monogr. 75. — S. alba 

 P vitellina Anderss. DC. Prodr. xvi. (2), 211. Syme, E. B. 

 viii. 211. S. alba var. vitellina Seemen, iv. 80. 



Icon. Hoffm. Hist. Sal. t. xi. xii. 24, f. 1. Forbes, Sal. Wob. 

 20. Engl. Bot. t. 1389. 



Exs. Seringe 19. Wimmer, Sal. Relict. (Coll. Sal. 12, c, d.). 

 Leefe, Sal. exs. ii. 34. E. F. & W. R. Linton, No. 32. Toepffer, 

 No. 103. 



A tree 30-50 ft. in height, with slender flexible branches 

 which are soon glabrous, somewhat shining, yellowish, buff, 

 reddish-yellow or red through their first winter. Leaf-blades 

 pubescent at first but soon glabrescent and green above, more 

 densely pubescent beneath at first, at length thinly hairy with 

 appressed hairs and decidedly glaucous. Catkins 2 elongate, 

 bracts long and narrow, about as long as the mature ovaries. 

 From the Clyde southwards to Cornwall and Kent ; Perthshire ; 

 usually planted as an ornamental shrub or as an osier. 



S. alba, not recorded for some few counties in Wales and the 

 North of Scotland, is otherwise generally distributed through the 

 British Isles. Often planted, it is also sometimes self-sown, and 

 may be native in some parts of the East of England. It occurs 



