484 SALIX 



high in Western N. America, where it is native. It has the same dark green, 

 shining leaves as its allies, the glandular teeth, the conspicious stipules on 

 strong shoots, the glandular leaf-stalks, yellow midrib, and the five or more 

 stamens ; but the leaf is, at first at any rate, pale or glaucous beneath and 

 downy. In flower it is also distinguished by the scale, at the base of which 

 the group of stamens or the ovary is attached, being toothed at the apex ; 

 it is entire in the other two. The leaves are 4 to 5 (sometimes 6 to 7) ins. 

 long, ^ to i (sometimes i|) ins. wide. 



This willow is occasionally offered by nurserymen. 



S. LUCIDA, Muehlenberg. SHINING WILLOW. 



Usually a shrub, sometimes a tree up to 25 ft. in height ; young shoots 

 smooth, glossy ; flowering twigs downy. Leaves lance-shaped, broadly 

 wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, with long, slender, sometimes tail-like 

 points ; finely glandular-toothed ; 3 to 5 ins. long, f to ij ins. wide ; dark 

 glossy green above, paler beneath ; ^ to ^ in. long, with several glands near 

 the blade, downy in the groove on the upper side, and partially so up the 

 midrib. Stipules large, roundish heart-shaped, glandular-toothed, often 

 persistent. Catkins produced very abundantly on short, leafy twigs in 

 April and May ; males erect, i^ to 2^- ins. long, stamens five (sometimes 

 three or four) ; females more slender, 2 ins. long. 



Native of N. America from Newfoundland to the eastern base of the Rocky 

 Mountains. It is a handsome-leaved willow, and the only other with which 

 it is likely to be confused is S. pentandra its Old World representative. 

 S. lucida differs in having a long drawn-out point to the narrower leaf, and 

 the net-veining is not so prominent as in S. pentandra. (See also S. lasiandra.) 



S. MAGNIFICA, Hemsley. 



A straggling shrub, from 6 to 20 ft. high, quite devoid of down in all its 

 parts, the young shoots and conical buds purple, the former changing to red. 

 Leaves oval or slightly obovate, entire, rounded or slightly heart-shaped at 

 the base, the apex terminated by a short, abrupt, bluntish tip; 4 to 8 ins. 

 long, 3 to 5j ins. wide; dull grey-green (with a bloom) above, pale and 

 slightly glaucous beneath; stalk \ to i^ ins. long, purplish. Male catkins 

 4 to 7 ins. long; stamens two, four times as long as the scale; female catkins 

 longer, sometimes as much as 1 1 ins. 



Native of W. China; discovered in 1903 by Wilson in the mountains of 

 Szechuen, at 9000 ft. altitude. It was not introduced at the time, and Mr 

 Wilson saw only two bushes then. In 1909 he found it again, and in 

 abundance, 20 ft. high. He sent cuttings to the Arnold Arboretum, where 1 

 saw it in 1910, and obtained it for Kew. This, I believe, was its first 

 introduction to Europe. It is the most remarkable of all willows, and its 

 leaves, in shape and colour, are more like those of Arbutus Menziesii than a 

 typical willow. Leaves have been borne on cultivated plants that measure 

 10 ins. long, by 5^ ins. wide; the stalk 2 ins. long. There is every likelihood, 

 from the altitude at which it was found, of its proving hardy. Mr Wilson 

 informs me that in a wild state the shoots change to red the first winter, and 

 remain that colour for several years; also that the leaves die off a golden 

 yellow. 



S. MEYERIANA, Rostkov. 



(S v cuspidata, Schultz.') 



This handsome willow is a hybrid between S. pentandra and S. fragilis, 

 and has been found wild in Shropshire, as well as on the Continent in places 



