Trees, Shrubs and Vines 



calls a distinct species another thinks only a variety, the 

 whole genus well exemplifying the truth that variety and 

 species differ only in degree, not in kind. Without 

 wishing to discourage research into the microscopic di- 

 versities of those closely related forms, indicating a com- 

 paratively recent common origin, it must be said that 

 for anyone whose aim is the enjoyment of nature in its 

 broader outlook, it is not worth while to investigate the 

 minutiae of willow- variation, since the number of ex- 

 perienced botanists is small who have grappled thor- 

 oughly with the subject. 



Our native willows are all shrubs or very low trees ; 

 the arboreal sorts are foreign and to a small degree 

 naturalized. These latter are of great service in lawn- 

 culture, as presenting a noble and exceedingly graceful 

 arboreal figure, without the heaviness of dense and deep 

 green foliage, thus having the charm of water-color 

 rather than of oil-painting. In any water-scene, along 

 a brook, or on the margin of a lake, nothing blends 

 more exquisitely than such willowy, translucent figures, 

 relieving the eye from the solid tones of the more vigor- 

 ous and masculine trees by infusion of an ethereal and 

 feminine atmosphere. It were easy to imagine some of 

 those elegant and airy forms to be the embodiment of 

 old-time nymphs, in punishment or reward finding their 

 eternal future at the water's brink. 



The yellow willow (Salix alba var. vitellina) is justly 

 a favorite. Long before a single bud has swelled, even 

 in midwinter, it throws out the first signal of spring in 

 the golden-tinted bark of its bare branches, deepening 

 in color till the burnished mass of lithe twigs, in a clus- 



62 



