166 AMENTACE.E 



lilies and orange-flowers, and is the favourite symbol of a graceful woman. 

 It is somewhat doubtful whether this is the species on which the Israelites 

 hung their silenced harps, for the Euphrates is bordered by many pale grey- 

 green osiers ; but Celsius believes this to be especially the " Willow by the 

 brook," intended by the patriarch Job, when he says of Behemoth : " The 

 shady trees cover him with their shadows ; the Willows of the brook compass 

 him about." A variety of this tree, called Nap Icon's Willow, from its 

 growth near the tomb of that hero at St. Helena, is often seen in gardens ; 

 and we have also an American Weeping Willow. 



27. Grey Sallow {S. cin^rea). — Leaves inversely egg-shaped-lanceolate, 

 autumnal ones pointed, even, serrated, netted with prominent veins, nearly 

 smooth and glaucous beneath, with the margins sometimes rolled under ; 

 stipules rounded, toothed, upper ones often half heart-shaped ; style very 

 short or wanting. Varieties differing in the form and texture of their 

 autumnal leaves have been described as S. aqudtica and S. oleifolia. This is 

 a very common Willow in our wet hedgerows, and on the river brink, some- 

 times bordering the stream for a long distance with its bushy growths, being 

 rarely more than seven or eight feet high. At other times, however, this 

 Sallow rises into an erect tree, twenty or thirty feet in height, and its 

 branches are either spreading or they droop down, and almost touch the 

 water — 



" Where haiigeth down the old accustom'd Willow, 



Hiding the silver underneatli each leaf, 

 So dro})s the long liair from some maiden's pillow 



When midniglit heareth the else silent grief ; 

 There floats tlie water-lily like a sovereign, 



Wliose lonely empire is a fairy world, 

 The purple dragon-fly above it hovering, 



As when its fragile ivory uncini'd." 



We cannot, however, praise the beauty of this tree ; neither is it one of 

 the useful species, though its bi^anches are woven into coarse wicker-work. 

 It is distinguished from the other common Sallows by the rusty glittering 

 hue of its foliage. "This," Sir J. E. Smith says, "lies more perhaps in the 

 fine veins of its leaves than in the pubescence sprinkled over them, which 

 consists of minute prominent shining hairs, totally unlike the depressed silki- 

 ness of some other Willows." The rusty colour, indeed, increases after the 

 specimens have been long dried, but is visible in some degree in the growing 

 plant, especially towards the autumn. 



The leaves of this Sallow are from an inch to an inch and a half in length, 

 and they are sometimes blotched and variegated. The variety termed 

 aquatica has much broader and thinner leaves, of uniform dull grey hue, and 

 without the rusty tint which distinguishes the ordinary form. Its branches 

 and twigs are also very brittle. In the plant called the Olive-leaved Sallow, 

 the leaves, which are, when young, densely hoary, gradually become green, 

 and acquire the rusty hue ; and they are throughout their growth of leatheiy 

 texture, and not pliant as in the other varieties. The branches are rounded, 

 and more or less hoary when young. 



28. Round-eared or Sallow Trailing Sallow {S. aurita).— Leaves 

 inversely egg-shaped, with spreading teeth, wrinkled with veins, more or 



