THE BRITISH WILLOWS 49 



kins. The characters to expect from the influence of S. cinerea 

 are the sub-persistent dusky pubescence on twigs and buds, striae 

 on the two-year-old wood under the bark, the narrowed or longer 

 and more serrate leaf-blades, showing some rust-coloured hairs 

 but becoming subglabrate and rather harsh beneath ; the more 

 rounded and less dentate stipules, the catkins and ovaries rather 

 smaller, and the bracts more obovate, blunt or rounded. 



All these influences may not appear together, and many 

 examples resemble one parent more than the other ; then clear 

 signs must be looked for of the less evident parent. 



S. caprea x cinerea is most easily confused with some forms 

 of the variable S. aurita x cinerea. It is far from common, 

 having been seen only from Dorset, Worcestershire, Glamorgan- 

 shire, Derbyshire, Perthshire, and (?) Banffshire. Europe: France, 

 Germany, Scandinavia, Eussia. 



SALIX CAPEEA X CINEREA X PHYLICIFOLIA ? 



Syn. S. tepkrocarpa B. White, Eevision, 406 (non Wimmer, 

 Sal. Eur. 205). 



Exs. Hb. B. White (specimens unnumbered). 



A shrub 3-6 ft. high, branches stout, dull brown, here and 

 there polished dark brown, young twigs pubescent but soon 

 glabrous. Stipules broadly ^-cordate, obliquely acuminate. Leaf- 

 blades 2-3 in. long, ovate-oboval to obovate-oblong, subentire, 

 crenate- serrate or incurved-serrate, with tip mucronate or shortly 

 acute and base subcuneate, softly pubescent at first, mostly soon 

 glabrescent but some early leaves retaining the pubescence of 

 S. ccqjrea, green above, very glaucous beneath. Catkins 2 the 

 only known, flowering in April, 1^-2 in. long, bracts large obovate 

 obtuse, silkily pubescent, blackened in fully half the upper part ; 

 ovaries long-conic white tomentose ; pedicels three times as long 

 as the short broad nectaries ; style medium long. 



The contrast between the large blackened part of the bracts 

 and the white tomentose ovaries gives a striking appearance to 

 the inflorescence of this hybrid. 



The specimens in Dr. White's herbarium, all from a single 

 large bush by the river Tay, near Balmacneil, Perth, show good 

 evidence of S. phylicifolia in the style, bracts, and polish of some 

 parts of the year-old wood ; of S. ccqjrea in the partially crenate 

 softly villous leaf-blades and the size of the ovaries ; and of 

 S. cinerea in the ashen colour and shape of the leaves, and their 

 underneath clothing of numerous rust-coloured hairs. 



S. tephrocarpa Wimmer in the Sal. Eelict. (Coll. Sal. 259), 

 appears to be a soft-leaved form of S. aurita x cinerea, such as 

 occurs in Dorset or Derbyshire, and no doubt elsewhere, and is 

 quite distinct from B. White's plant. 



Salix caprea x lan ata. See Journ. Bot. 1898, 123. 



Exs. Herb. Borrer (ex hb. J. H. Balfour, 5 Salix — ). E. F. 

 & W. E. Linton, No. 88. 



A dwarf shrub, with stem trailing on rocks or ascending and 

 suberect, older bark grey, branches darkish brown, buds yellowish- 



