246 CRACK WILLOW 



Other varieties and hybrids cannot be dealt with 



here.] 



tt Leaves not silky-pubescent, but glabrous or 

 nearly so. 



Leaves narrow, 618 x 1 3 - 5 cm. or so: 

 not conduplicate. Stipules broad and 

 deciduous. Leaf -insertions broad and 

 narrow, crescentic, extending nearly half- 

 way round the shoot. Buds exhibiting one 

 scale only. 



O Shoots not pendent. 



Twigs fragile at the joints ; leaves all- 

 alternate. 



Salix fragilis, L. Crack Willow (Fig. 87). Tree, often 

 pollard, with the twigs more divergent than those of 

 8. alba, and easily snapping at the articulations. Leaves, 

 except those first emerging or on the catkins, narrow 

 lanceolate, and long acuminate, 618 x 1*5 35 cm. (about 

 5 times as long as broad), broadest below the middle, and 

 somewhat oblique, rather coarsely glandular serrate; on 

 short petioles (usually about 5 15 mm.), at length gla- 

 brous, bright green above and paler or bluish beneath, 

 often with light-coloured midrib and distinct venation. 

 The first leaves may be entire, ovate or rounded, and 

 ciliate or silky. The petiole may reach 25 cm. and have 

 two glands above. Usually rather tough, the acuminate 

 point oblique. Stipules of vigorous shoots semi-cordate 

 or reniform and coarsely toothed, obtuse, appressed, de- 

 ciduous ; but often obsolete on other shoots. Stomata 

 few above and about a quarter as many beneath. Autumn 

 leaves yellow and brown. 



Venation like that of 8. alba, but secondaries often 

 leaving the midrib at more acute angles, about 45. 



