204 ENGLISH B0TAN1\ 



itself at home in the dry soil of town gardens. Mr. Forbes states that when cut 

 down this species produces tough flexible rods, fit for basket-work ; but in a wild 

 state on the banks of Gogar Burn, where its five or six other sorts were periodically- 

 cut down for basket-work and for hoops, the shoots of this species were considered 

 short and brittle, as compared with those of the others. There is a moth which 

 inhabits this willow known as the Gothic moth, which is much esteemed by collectors 

 on account of its rarity. Notwithstanding this it was seen in 1826 in Cheshire, in 

 immense quantities during a thunderstorm. 



SPECIES (?) II.— S ALIX CUSPIDATA. Schaltz. 



Plates MCCCIV. MCCCV. 



Beich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XI. Tab. DCXI. Fig. 1266. 

 Anders. Mon. Sal. p. 37. Borrer in E. B. S. Nos. 2961 and 2962. 

 S. pentandra-fragilis, Wimni. Sal. Europ. p. 134. 

 S. Meyeriana, Wild. Beich. Ic. I.e. p. 28. 



Leaves oblong-oval or oblong-elliptical, longly acuminate, finely and 

 closely glandular-serrate, shining, glabrous on both sides ; petiole with 

 a few glands at the apex. Stipules half-cordate, oblique, frequently 

 present. Catkins opening a little after the leaves, on short leafy 

 lateral branches, spreading, dense, obtuse. Catkin-scales oblong, obtuse, 

 pubescent all over or more rarely subglabrous at the apex. Stamens 

 3 to 5 ; filaments hairy at the base. Capsule subulate, swollen at the 

 base, glabrous, on a stalk 3 or 4 times as long as the nectary ; style 

 short ; stigmas thick, notched, spreading. Young branches and young 

 leaves glabrous. 



Found at Hanwood, near Shrewsbury, by Rev. W. A. Leighton, and 

 subsequently near Pountsbury, Shropshire, by the Rev. L. Darwell, 

 but doubtfully native. 



Eno-land. Tree. Earlv Summer. 



o 



There can be very little doubt of this being a hybrid between Salix 

 pentandra and S. fragilis. From S. pentandra it differs in having 

 the leaves drawn out into a longer and more slender acumen, and 

 thinner in texture, the catkins produced earlier, the rachis of the cat- 

 kins more hairy, the catkin-scales generally clothed all over with short 

 hairs, the stamens more often only 3 or 4, the catkins on longer stalks, 

 narrower, and more attenuated at the apex. It also often attains a 

 greater height. 



From S. fragilis it differs in the leaves being shorter and broader, 

 more rounded at the base, and much more acuminate at the apex, 

 brighter green above, and not glaucous beneath, more finely glandular- 

 serrate at the margin, and on petioles glandular at the apex. The cat- 

 kins are produced later, and the stamens are generally more than 2. 



