SALICACE^E. 



Nat.syst. ed.2. p. 186. 



SALIX. 



Catkins many-flowered, imbricated ; composed of a single- 

 flowered, flexible bract. $ . A small, lateral, abrupt gland, some- 

 times double. Filaments 1-2-3-5, or more, longer than the 

 bract; in some partly combined. Anthers 2-lobed; opening 

 longitudinally. $>. A nectariferous gland. Ovary ovate, 1 -celled, 

 many-seeded. Style terminal, permanent ; stigmas 2, notched 

 and obtuse, or cloven and acute, spreading. Capsule ovate, of 

 1 cell, with 2 revolute, concave valves. Seeds numerous, mi- 

 nute, oval, tufted with soft, simple, upright hairs. 



Willow bark has been found to contain a substance called Salicine, 

 which is an efficacious substitute for sulphate of quinia, as the bark 

 itself, which is an astringent tonic, is for cinchona. It is by no means 

 satisfactorily ascertained what species contain this principle in the 

 greatest abundance. Mr. Pereira believes the best practical rule to 

 follow is to select those willows whose barks are most intensely bitter. 

 I give those species which have been spoken of most favourably. 



648. S. Russelliana Smith, fl. brit. 1045. Eng. Bot. 1. 1808. 

 Eng. Fl. iv. 186. Marshy grounds in various parts of Europe. 



Branches long, straight and slender, not angular in their insertion 

 like S. fragilis, and the trees, when stripped of their leaves, may always 

 be distinguished by these marks. They are polished, very tough, 

 flexible, round and smooth. Leaves lanceolate, firm, very smooth, 

 except a little silkiness in the bud ; the'r base tapering, not rounded, 

 nor do they at any period approach to the broad ovate form of 

 S. fragilis ; they are strongly, and rather coarsely, serrated throughout; 

 the midrib stouter than S. fragilis. Footstalks smooth, channelled, 

 glandular, either along their edges, or about the summit, where they 

 occasionally bear 2 or more small lanceolate leaflets. Stipules half- 

 ovate, toothed or cut, not constantly present. Fertile catkins, 

 more lax and tapering than those of S. fragilis, their common re- 

 ceptacle less downy. Scales oblong, either smooth or hairy, deciduous. 

 Ovary lanceolate, tapering, smooth, on a smooth stalk, at whose base 

 on the inside, is a large, abrupt, solitarj', glandular nectary. Style 

 equal in length to the deeply divided stigmas. The ovary protrudes, 

 beyond the scale, nearly half its own length. Smith. Sir James 

 Smith tells us that this is the most valuable officinal species, and that 

 if practitioners have been sometimes disappointed in its use, they pro- 

 bably chanced in such cases to give S. fragilis : an allied but different 

 species which is almost inert. 

 317 



