THE BRITISH WILLOWS 



27 



or denticulate in the upper half, glaucous or livid-glaucous and 

 pubescent beneath, sooner or later glabrous, shortly petioled. 

 Catkins about f in. long, coming before the leaves in April or 

 May, subsessile with a few small basal leaves ; bracts obovate, 

 rounded or obtuse, fringed with silky hairs ; filaments + united, 

 slightly pilose at the base ; anthers brick-red shading into orange ; 

 ovaries conic, tomentose; pedicels 1-3 times the length of the 

 quadrate nectaries ; styles very short. 



Only the 2 plant has been discovered wild in Britain. 

 Smith's plant was said to come from Scotland, but the locality is 

 unknown. Dr. F. B. White rediscovered it for Scotland, near 

 Pitlochry, Perthshire. Specimens of the $ plant were issued in 

 the Set of British Willows (No. 83), from a plant made by design 

 in a Bournemouth garden. Europe : France, Germany, Switzer- 

 land, Lower Austria, Tirol, Bohemia, Moravia, Galicia, Poland. 



SALIX PURPUREA X VIMINALIS. 



Syn. S. rubra Hudson, Fl. Angl. 364 (1762). Sm. Engl. 

 Fl. iv. 191 ; in Rees Cycl. 50. Syme, E. B. viii. 220. B. White, 

 Revision, 418.— S. fissa Ehrh. Arbor. 2°, 29. Hoffm. Hist. Sal. 

 61. Seringe, Essai, 32.— S. Helix L. Sp. PL 1017.— S. Helix 

 Sm. Engl. Fl. iv. 188. — S. rubra a viminaloides Gr. & Godr. iii. 

 129. Anderss. in DC. Prodr. xvi. (2), 307.— S. viminalis-purpurea 

 Wimmer, Fl. Schles. (1845) ; Sal. Eur. 173. 



Icon. E. Bot. 1145. Forbes, Sal. Wob. t. 6. Hoffm. Hist. 

 Sal. t. xiii. f. 1, 2 ; xiv. f. 34. Camus, Atlas PI. 25, f. e-j. 



Exs. Leefe, Sal. Brit. exs. Nos. 15, 16. Wimmer, Sal. Relict. 

 (Hb. Sal. 134; Coll. Sal. 234, 235b). Billot, No. 286. E. F. & 

 W. R. Linton, No. 7. Toepffer, Sal. exs. Nos. 78-80, 140. 



A shrub 5-8 ft. high, with long shoots turning yellowish with 

 glabrescence, pubescent at first ; buds oval-oblong, puberulous. 

 Stipules linear or narrow-lanceolate, small scarious, soon fugitive. 

 Leaf-blades 3-6 in. long, on short petioles, lanceolate or oblanceo- 

 late attenuate to a fine point, crenate-denticulate or faintly toothed, 

 silkily pubescent at first, then green and glabrous above when 

 full-grown ; paler or glaucous-green and glabrescent beneath, or 

 at times with some persistent pubescence. Catkins f-lj in. long, 

 fl. March or April, slightly preceding the leaves, dense-flowered, 

 peduncles short, with some small narrow leaves ; bracts obovate- 

 oblong, clothed with long silky hairs ; $ ovoid-oblong, filaments 

 + connate, anthers reddish at first ; 2 cylindric ; ovaries ovoid- 

 conic sessile, tomentose, with oblong nectaries exceeding their base; 

 style moderate, about as long as the linear undivided stigmas. 



S. rubra differs from S. purpurea in the long leaf-blades, silky 

 at first and less distinctly serrate, in the distinct style and equally 

 long stigmas. It differs from S. viminalis in the glabrescent 

 more denticulate leaf-blades with less revolute margins, the more 

 slender catkins, the connate stamens, and anthers tinged with 

 red, the smaller ovaries with short styles and stigmas. 



Var. Forbyana (Smith). 



Syn. S. Forbiana Sm. Fl. Biit. 4 ; Engl. Fl. iv. 191 ; Sm. 



d 2 



