170 AMENTACE^ 



natmalized in the few spots on which it has been seen. It was discovered 

 by Mr. F. Di'ummond beside a small stream that passes through the sands of 

 Barrie near Dundee, but the record has not been confirmed. The authors of 

 the " British Flora " remark : " It is most improbable that this plant, which 

 is truly alpine on the Continent, growing in Switzerland only at great eleva- 

 tions, should be naturalized on the sands of Barrie, and the Norfolk station 

 is entirely hypothetical and extremely unlikely." 



This species, which is sometimes termed S. mnlifolia, has shining leaves, 

 three inches long and about half as wide, and blackish branches, and has 

 more the appearance of an apple-tree than a Willow. Its stem, in its wild 

 state, is usually one or two feet high ; but when cultivated, the plant becomes 

 a small spreading tree, about six feet in height. It bears, in May, very com- 

 pact shaggy catkins, densely covered with silvery hairs, and about an inch 

 and a half long. 



37. Woolly Broad-leaved Willow (>S'. landta). — Leaves broadly oval, 

 pointed, entire, shaggy ; stipules o^'al, pointed, entire ; barren catkins covered 

 with yellow silky hairs ; ovaries almost sessile. This species is sometimes 

 called the Golden Willow (;S'. dirijmntha), on account of the beautiful golden 

 catkins which in May and June ornament its boughs, while the young leaves 

 are just expanding. Wahlenberg says of this AVillow, that it is the most 

 beautiful one in Sweden, if not in the whole Avorld. " The splendid golden 

 catkins," he remarks, " at the ends of the young branches, light up, as it 

 were, the whole shrub, and are accompanied by the tender foliage, sparkling 

 with gold and silver." The stem is about three or four feet high, with 

 numerous irregular branches, which, while young, are downy. Its lea^'es are 

 wavy at the edge, from an inch and a half to two inches and a half long, 

 very grey, and almost white with the long, soft, silky hairs, which entirely 

 cover the upper surface, while the sea-green-tinted under surface is beautifully 

 netted with veins. The catkins are thought to yield more honey than those 

 of any other species, and perhaps they would serve the same purpose as 

 those of the celebrated little Willow called in the East Calaf, from Avhose 

 blossoms a medicinal and fragrant water is distilled. The Woolly Broad- 

 leaved Willow is a rare plant of the Scottish mountains. 



38. Sadler's Willow {S. sadleri).- — Leaves broadly egg-shaped, some- 

 times heart-shaped at base, entire, smooth and cottony above, netted and 

 naked beneath; stipules absent; catkins cylindric at the tips of leafy 

 branches, woolly, turning dark brown ; capsules naked, on slender stalks, 

 styles persistent. This species has hitherto occurred only on rocky ledges 

 in Glen Callater, at an altitude of 2,-500 feet. 



5. Poplar {PdpuJm). 



1. Great White Poplar or Abele (P. «/&(,).— Leaves roundish, heart- 

 shaped, Jobed, and angularly toothed, cottony and perfectly white beneath, 

 those of the young shoots heart-shaped, 5-lobed ; leaf-buds downy ; scales of 

 the catkins notched at the end. This handsome species is a doubtful native 

 of this kingdom, though in many a mountain wood 



"The Poplar, that with silver liuui his leaf," 



