64 
SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 
SALICACEA. 
Salix balsamifera is an inhabitant of cold wet bogs and is distributed from the coast of Labrador 
to northern Maine, northern New Hampshire and New York,' and to the valley of the Saskatchewan,’ 
northern Michigan,* and northern Minnesota. 
Salix balsamifera was first collected by Mr. Henry Little* in August, 1823, on the bank of the 
Ammonoosue River among the White Mountains of New Hampshire,’ and was first distinguished by 
Joseph Barratt.° 
In 1880 Salix balsamifera was introduced into the Arnold Arboretum, where it is perfectly hardy 
and one of the most beautiful of the shrubby Willows, particularly during the winter, when the bright 
scarlet buds make the shining branches conspicuous. 
1 Salix balsamifera was collected on the shores of Lake Placid, 
New York, by Mr. J. G. Jack in August, 1894. 
2 Macoun, Cat. Can. Pl. 445. 
3 Farwell, Garden and Forest, vi. 149. 
4 Henry Little (December 21, 1802-March 31, 1827) was the 
second child of Moses Little who was graduated from Harvard 
College in 1787, and studied medicine with Dr. Jonathan Swett of 
Newburyport. He married in 1799 Elizabeth, daughter of George 
Williams, a merchant of Salem, where he settled and became a 
prominent physician. He died in 1811 of pulmonary consumption, 
which proved fatal to his ten children. Henry Little was gradu- 
ated from the Harvard Medical School in 1825, and his interest in 
botany was no doubt due to an acquaintance with Dr. Jacob Bige- 
low, who was connected with the school. He died during a voyage 
undertaken for his health. (See The Descendants of George Little 
who came to Massachusetts in 1640, No. 355, 94, by George Thomas 
Little.) 
5 Teste Bebb, Bot. Gazette, iv. 190. Mr. Little’s White Moun- 
tain specimens were found by Bebb in the herbarium of the Acad- 
emy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 
6 Joseph Barratt (January 7, 1797-June 25, 1882) was born in 
Little Hallam, Derbyshire, England, and from 1825 to 1829 was 
professor of botany, chemistry, and mineralogy in the military 
academy at Middletown, C tieut. He subsequently entered 
the Medical School of Yale College, from which he was gradu- 
ated in 1834, and finally settled in Middletown, where he practiced 
medicine for many years and where he died. He had previously 
been a pupil of Torrey in the study of botany, devoting himself 
particularly to the genus Salix. In 1834 Dr. Barratt read before 
the Lyceum of Natural History of New York a Monograph of the 
North American Willows, which he proposed to illustrate with a 
figure of each species. The expense of this work caused it to be 
abandoned. In 1840 he published in Middletown the Salices Ameri- 
cane ; North American Willows. In this paper twenty-nine species 
are arranged in eight sections. This arrangement, with Barratt’s 
sectional characters, was adopted by Hooker in his Flora Boreali- 
Americana. This appears to be the only important botanical work 
accomplished by Dr. Barratt, although he made and distributed a 
Later he de- 
voted attention to the geology of the region adjacent to Middletown 
and to the study of the languages of the American Indians. 
Barrattia, established on a Texas Composite now referred to 
Encelia, was dedicated to him by Asa Gray, who was his fellow- 
student under Torrey. 
large number of herbarium specimens of Willows. 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 
Puare DCCXXVIII. Satrx BALSAMIFERA. 
. A capsule, enlarged. 
NPT OPE 
A flowering branch of the staminate tree, natural size. 
A staminate flower, enlarged. 
A fruiting branch of the pistillate tree, natural size. 
. A pistillate flower, enlarged. 
. A fruiting branch, natural size. 
A leafy branch, natural size. 
