55 



XX. 



SALICINE^. 



THE WILLOW. 



SAL!.\. 



Nearly a hundred species and varieties of the 

 willow are grown in England, ranging in size from 

 large trees such as the white willow, S. alba, which 

 will attain a height of some eighty feet, to the 

 diminutive "least willow," S. herbacca, which rises 

 but a few inches. However, it is our province 

 to deal with the trees only, and of these the 

 white or Huntingdon willow is the most generally 

 cultivated. 



The white willow is a native of England, 

 Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Under favour- 

 able conditions, in a moist loam, it forms a wide 

 girth, with a well-proportioned head, and with its 

 olive green flexible twigs, and long thin leaves, 

 silvery and tapering, it produces a charming effect, 

 and is conspicuous from a long distance. 



The willow, like the poplar, is rapid in its 

 growth, but the timber is better and harder than 

 that of the poplar. For good clean-stemmed trees 



