THE BRITISH WILLOWS 39 



vii. Caprea. 

 Caprea (Koch p.p.) Aaderss. DO. Prodr. xvi. (2), 215. Shrubs 

 or small trees ; branches short, turning dull grey- brown. Leaves 

 pubescent ; vernation equitant. Catkins lateral, usually sessile, 

 with a few small basal leaves ; rachis woolly tomentose ; stamens 

 2 free, anthers yellow ; bracts persistent, tip becoming discoloured ; 

 ovaries pubescent, silvery, then green ; styles or short, stigmas 

 short, commonly subsessile. 



Branches and catkins slender 8. S. aurita Ij. 



Branches and catkins rather stout 2 



'Young branches glabrescent, leaf-blades crenate or subentire, very 



softly pubescent, persistently so beneath 9. S. caprea L. 



Young branches persistently pubescent, leaf-blades serrate above the 



middle or crenate, pubescent, usually becoming harsh beneath 



10. S. cinerea L. 



8. Salix aurita, L. Sp. PI. 1019. Sm. Fl. Brit. 1064 ; inEees 

 Cycl. 117; Engl. Fl. 4, 216. Wade, 326. Anderss. Monogr. i. 

 69. Doell, 497. Wimmer, Sal. Eur. 51. Anderss. DC. Prodr. 

 xvi. (2), 220. Syme, E. B. viii. 232. B. White, Eevision, 382. 

 Camus, Monogr. 171. Seemen, iv. 111. — S. caprea 8 aurita Hud- 

 son, Fl. Angl. 430. — S. folio rotundo minore Dill, in Kaii Syn. 450. 



Icon. Hoffm. Hist. Sal. t. 4, t. 5, fig. 3 ; t. 22, fig. 1, a-d. 

 Forbes, t. 124. E. B. t. 1487. Fl. Dan. 2600. Anderss. Monogr. 

 f. 43. Syme, E. B. t. 1330. 



Exs. Hb. Linn. Nos. 686, 70 ? Billot, Nos. 848, 948. Wim- 

 mer, Sal. Eelict. (Herb. Sal. 99, 143 ; Coll. Sal. 34, 36). Leefe, 

 Sal. Brit. exs. No. 45 ; Sal. exs. No. 65. E. F. & W. E. Linton, 

 Nos. 15, 89. Toepffer, Nos. 7, 8 (f. bicapsidaris), 46, 108 (f. minor 

 Anderss.), 110. 



A much branched shrub, 2-8 ft. high, with slender, spreading 

 branchlets, pubescent at first, soon glabrous, at length reddish- 

 brown ; wood striated beneath the bark ; buds shortly oval, soon 

 glabrescent. Stipules often substipitate, reniform, deeply and 

 often irregularly dentate, large, rarely absent. Leaf-blades J- 2 in. 

 long, broadly obovate to oblong-obovate, with a short acute + 

 twisted tip, + narrowed to the base, often cuneate ; undulate, 

 coarsely serrate or serrate-dentate, rugose (veins impressed above, 

 prominent beneath), dull green or grey, with dense pubescence at 

 first, somewhat glaucous and pubescent beneath (hairs often 

 rusty), margin narrowly reflexed. Catkins J-f in. long in flower, 

 subsessile, with some few small leaves at the base, appearing in 

 April before the leaves ; <? ovoid ; stamens nearly glabrous in the 

 lower part ; $ narrowly cylindric, slightly elongate and lax ; 

 bracts narrowly oblong obtuse, thinly hairy, pale at first and 

 somewhat ferruginous below the blackening tip ; ovaries small, 

 subulate-conic, silvery white, becoming pale green ; pedicels elon- 

 gate, at length 3-4 times as long as the very short nectaries ; 

 stigmas small, usually sessile or very nearly so. 



Var. minor (Anderss. Monogr. p. 70?), Syme, I. c. p. 233, is a 

 plant with small roundish-obovate leaves, f-1 in. long, and is 

 perhaps rather a state induced by unfavourable conditions than a 



