TREES WITH BEAUTIFUL CATKINS 67 



being of loftier habit they do not show to the same 

 advantage as those of the Aspen group. 



HAZELS 



Between the middle and the end of February the 

 flowers on the catkins of the various species of 

 Corylus begin to expand. Early as that date is, the 

 catkins have, nevertheless, been in evidence since 

 the previous autumn ; they were, in fact, formed 

 before the nuts fell. Being comparatively low and 

 shrubby the different varieties of the Hazel (Corylus 

 Avelland) show their catkins to best advantage, and 

 there are few among the catkin-bearers more charm- 

 ing. It is not often that any but the coloured-leaved 

 varieties find a place in the garden proper, but either 

 in the orchard or in the woodland the soft yellow of 

 the Hazel catkins is one of the most pleasing notes 

 of earliest spring. The Tree Hazel (Corylus Colurna), 

 a fine and interesting tree, growing thirty feet or 

 more high, also bears its catkins in February. 



WILLOWS 



Of the almost innumerable species and varieties 

 of Salix, it is only a few that need be mentioned here 

 for their beauty when in flower. So far as I have 

 been able to judge, the most ornamental of the 

 Willows in catkin time is Salix smithiana, known also 

 as S. mollissima. This tree flowers about mid-March, 

 producing its shortish, thick male catkins in very 

 great abundance ; the numerous exposed anthers 



