ALNUS. — SALIX. 179 



514. Alnus GLUTiNosA. Hftin* or SUki'. By burn-sides and in 

 moorish boggy ground, where it forms thickets that get the name of 

 Aller bogs. It has given a name to Allerdean ; and many farms had 

 formerly some haunt of the bush which was called the AUers. The 

 remains of decayed forests of it are often found buried in the course 

 of draining boggy grounds, for this tree has ever been " the most 

 faithful lover of watery and boggy places, and those most despised 

 weeping parts, or water-galls of forests." " It is only, however, 

 where the soil is good, and at the same time well watered, but not 

 actually swampy, that it attains a large timber-like size." P. J. 

 Selby. Many birds build in the branches ; and the wren loves to 

 nestle in the bank on which the tangled roots have been exposed by 

 the flood. The colour of the tree, in early spring, when browned by 

 the bursting buds and catkins, is very agreeable. The young twigs 

 and the catkins are used as a black dye, to diminish the quantity of 

 logwood. The wood is preferred for making the soles of the clogs in 

 common use by the hinds of Northumberland ; and aller burs or 

 knots the turner makes into snuff-boxes. 



515. Salix PURPUREA, Brit. Fl. p. 382. — B. Grange-burn where 

 itcrosses the post road. — D. Banks of the Till from Etal to the Tweed. 

 — N. Learmouth bog. — R. Bank of the river Tweed opposite Melrose, 

 Maughan. — May. — This appears to be S. amnicola of Dr. Walker, 

 who correctly says, " This low shrub is rarely to be foiuid at a 

 distance from running water. The situation it delights in, is the 

 very brink of a brook or a river, especially where they run upon 

 gravel." Essays, p. 432. 



516. S. HELIX. OTattr OTlilloii). Common on the margins of 

 our gravel-bedded burns and rivers, and especially in the islets of the 

 latter, where it forms dense patches of bushes that are often selected 

 by our songsters to nestle in. This Willow is the companion of the 

 Butter-bur, the large Epilobia, and the reed-like grasses. May. 



517. S. PENTANDRA. Bay-lcavcd Willow. Bogs, not rare. 

 D. In the dean below AUerton mill ; Haiden dean ; in a hedge near 

 Duddo, &c. — N. Base of Yevering Bell. — B. Penmanshiel moss ; 

 Winden dean, and Penmanshiel wood, J. Hardy. Near Langton 

 House, Rev. Thos. Brown. Chatterton bridge in the parish of 

 Polwarth. — Professor Arnott remarks that when cultivated, this 

 handsome shrub becomes " a tree 18-20 feet high." We have several 

 such trees in our district. Two of them stand at Hutton bridge, easily 

 distinguished by their shining dark-green laurel-like leaves. 



31. S.fraffilis. The Crack or Red- wood Willow. — Is sometimes 

 seen in plantations. See Selby's Brit. For. Trees, p. 152. — When a 

 branch, broken off, falls into running water, and is retained there 

 despite the force of the stream, it soon puts out copiously shaggy 

 root-fibres, two or three inches long, and of a beautiful red colour. 

 A branch thus ornamented is a curious object. 



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