THE BRITISH WILLOWS 19 



through almost the whole of Europe; Asia Minor, Caucasus, 

 Siberia ; N. Africa ; N. America (planted). 



S. alba x fragilis (p 19). 



x pentandra (p. 19). 

 x triandra (p. 20). 



SALIX ALBA X FRAGILIS. 



Syn. S. fragilis Sm. Fl. Brit. 1051; Engl. El. iv. 185; Sm. 

 in Eees Cycl. 38. — S. fragilis-alba Wimmer, Sal. Eur. 133. — 

 S. viridis Fries, Anderss. Monogr. 43, n. 29 ; DC. Prodr. xvi. (2) 

 210. Syme, E. B. ed. 3, viii. 207 (letterpress, not plate). Hart- 

 man, 361. B. White, Revision, 364, 371.— S. subdola B. White, 

 ibid, 354. 



Icon. E. Bot. 1. 1807 (as S. fragilis). Camus, Atlas, PL 22, a-d. 



Exs. Fries, Hb. Norm. i. 61 (fol.). Leefe, Sal. exs. ii. 31, 32, 

 40. E. F. & W. R. Linton, No. 33. Toepffer, No. 2. 



A variable hybrid lying between S. alba and S. fragilis ; differ- 

 ing from S. alba in the branches being more spreading, buds 

 sooner glabrescent, leaf-blades rather less silky from the first, 

 lighter green, + glabrescent, somewhat more coarsely serrate. 

 In the ? catkins the pedicels are eventually about 1| times the 

 length of the nectaries, the ovaries more gradually acuminate, 

 but not tapering into the moderate styles. 



From S. fragilis it may be distinguished by some of the 

 following characters : in S. viridis the branches less spreading, 

 the twigs more flexible and tougher, less ready to fracture off at 

 the base, buds longer more pubescent ; leaf-blades darker duller 

 green, with more persistent hairs, always somewhat silky when 

 young, more finely serrate. In the catkins the bracts may be 

 less pilose on the outside upwards, ovaries J— J in. long ovate- 

 conic, obtuse not tapering into the styles, pedicels and styles 

 shorter. 



These evidences of the two parents are not equally present in 

 all cases ; sometimes intermediate examples occur, sometimes 

 the vegetative parts show one parent more clearly and the 

 reproductive organs the other. But usually the shape of the 

 ovaries and the comparative length of the pedicels and nectary 

 are + intermediate. 



A lowland tree, of little value as timber, S. viridis is recorded 

 for several counties from Cornwall and Kent to Worcestershire 

 and Leicestershire; in Scotland for Dumfriesshire, Roxburgh, 

 Edinburgh and Perthshire. In Europe it has been found in most 

 of the countries of Central Europe, from France to Russia. 



Salix alba x pentandra Kerner, Hb. (Esterr. Weiden, No. 27. 



Syn. S. Ehrhartiana Sm. in Rees Cycl. No. 10. — S. tetrandra 

 Fries, Novit. Fl. Suec. Mant. i. 41 (1832, &c.).— S. hexandra Ehrh. 

 B. White, Revision, 361 (but S. hexandra is now regarded as 

 S. alba x fragilis x pentandra. Seemen, iv. 208). 



Exs. Kerner, Hb. (Esterr. Weiden 27 (as S. Ehrhartiana). — 

 S. hexandra ^, Tirol, centr., near Gasteig, Huter in Herb. Kew. 

 Toepffer, No. 51. 



