CHAP. cm. ^ALlCA^CEiE. 5'ALIX. 1517 



this tree; but Sir J. E. Smith (in his Eng. FL, vol. iv. p. 186.) says that 



they belong, probably, to S. Russell/««a. Tlie roots, however, of S. fragilis 



are used, in Sweden, to boil with eggs, to make them of a purple colour, at 



Easter ; it being the custom there, as in many other countries, to make 



presents of coloured eggs at that festival. A similar custom is said to have 



prevailed anciently in Scotland. " The withy, or Sa\ix fragilis," says 



Gilpin, " is of little value in landscape ; and yet there is something beautiful 



in its silver-coated catkins, which open, as the year advances, into elegant 



hanging tufts, and, when the tree is large and in full bloom, make a beautiful 



variety among the early productions of the spring." {Gilp. For. Seen.) For 



the properties and uses of this species as a timber tree, see p. 1460. 



Statistics. In the environs of London, on Uie banks of the Thames, near Brentford, 50 ft. high. 

 In Suffolk, at the bottom of the old Bury Botanic Garden, on the authority of Mr. Turner, the curator 

 of the new Botanic Garden at Bury, there was "a noble tree, 90ft. high ; the diameter of the trunk 

 7|ft., and of the head Sift. A portrait of this tree was lithographed by Mr. Strutt." This tree, 

 which grew on the banks of the Lark, was blown down during the hurricane of November 29th, 1836. 

 In Ireland, in the county Down, at Mount Stewart, 50 years planted, it is 57 ft. high ; the diameter 

 of the trunk 3|ft., and of the head 27 ft. In Russia, at Petersburg, in the garden of the Taurida 

 Palace, 49 ft. high ; the circumference of the trunk 10^ ft., and of the head 49 ft. There are plants 

 in the Hackney arboretum, and at Woburn Abbey, FUtwick House, Henficld, the Botanic Garden 

 at Twickenham, and various other places. 



1 ^ 23. S. monspelie'nsis Forbes. The Montpelier "Willow. 



Identification. Forbes in Sal. Wob., No. 30. 

 Synonymc. ? S. fragilis var. [Barrer in a letter.) 

 The Sexes. The male is figured in Sal. Wob. 

 Engravings. Sal. Wob., No. 30. ; anAfig. 30. in p. 1609. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, pointed, glabrous ; green, shining 

 above ; pale, and somewhat glaucous beneath ; margins strongly serrated, 

 glandular. Stipules ovate-lanceolate, deeply serrated. Catkins about 

 2 in. long. Stamens 2. Bractea oblong, fringed. (^Sal. Wob., p. 59.) 

 A native of Montpelier, in France. Introduced into England about 

 1823, or before, and flowering in the salictum at Woburn Abbey in 

 April and May. It forms a small tree, 10 ft. or 12 ft. high, with round, 

 smooth, tough branches, forming a bushy head ; the young twigs pale 

 yellow, but becoming of a brownish-green colour at the base, like the pre- 

 ceding year's shoots. The leaves are from 4 in. to 6 in. long. There are 

 plants in the Hackney arboretum, and at Woburn Abbey, Henfield, and 

 Flitwick House. 



y 24. S. RussELL/^\v^ Smith. The Russell, or Duke of Bedford's, Willow. 



Identification. Smith Fl. Br., p. 1045. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 656. ; Koch Comm., p. 15., at least 



in part; Smith Eng. Bot., I. 1801. ; Eng. Fl., 4. p. 186. ; Forbes in Sal. Wob., No. 28. ; Hook. Br. 



Fl., ed. 3., p. 422. ; Mackay Fl. Hibern., pt. 1. p. 246. 

 Synonymes. ? S. fragilis Woodv., and other medical writers ; the Dishley, or Leicestershire, Willow : 



in some counties, the Huntingdon Willow. Koch has deemed identical with this the following : — . 



S. pendula Ser. Sal. Hclv., p. 79., from specimens from Seringe ; S. viridis Fries Nov., p. 120. ; S. 



rObens Sclirank Baier. Fl., 1. 226. 

 2'he Sexes. The female is figured in Eng. Bot. and Sal. Wob. Smith, in the Eng. Fl., states that he 



had not seen the flowers of the male. Dr. Johnston, in his Flora of Berwick upon Tweed, states, 



that a male tree, which he has deemed of this species, is in " New.water-haugh Plantation." 

 Engravings. Eng. Bot., t. 1808. ; Sal. Wob., No. 28., and the frontispiece; our fig. 1311. ; and 



fig. 28. in p. 1608. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves lanceolate, tapering at each end, serrated throughout, 

 very glabrous. Footstalks glandular or leafy. Ovary tapering, stalked, 

 longer than the bracteas. Style as long as the stigmas. {Smith E. F.) 

 Smith states that he had not seen the flowers of the male of this kind ; 

 and this sex is not farther noticed in Sal. Wob. Dr. Johnston, in his Flora 

 of Berwick tijmn Tweed, has noticed the existence of a male tree of what 

 he deems this species within the province of his Flora ; and has given the 

 following botanical description of it : — " The male tree is very rare ; and, if 

 we are correct in our determination of it, the figure in Withering is not good. 

 Its catkins are 2 in. long, cylindrical, and yellow. Stamens 2. Filaments 

 not much longer than the pointed, more or less villous, bracteas. The 

 catkins stand on short leafy branchlets ; and ^the young leaves are entire, 

 1 in. to 2 in. long, but not otherwise different from the adult ones. Catkins 



