30 FAMILIAR TREES 



a hybrid between that species and S. alba. This 

 Willow yields a light but firm timber, remarkably 

 uninflammable, suited both for joists and for floor- 

 ing, and grows with great rapidity, reaching fifty 

 feet or more in ten years. 



The sub-series Albce, characterised by its minute, 

 ovate-lanceolate stipules, its nearly sessile capsules, 

 and its recurved stigmas, includes the White, or 

 Huntingdon, Willow (S. alba L.), the Blue Willow 

 (S. cairu'lea Sm.), and the Golden Willow (S. vitelli'na 

 L.). These grow into large and useful timber trees, 

 distinguished from the last-mentioned group by 

 having their branches not smooth, but silky, and 

 Avithout the tendency to break off at the base which 

 gives their name to the Crack Willows. The silky 

 hairs on the olive-green twigs of the Huntingdon 

 Willow, with the leaves silky also on both surfaces, 

 give the tree a weird appearance, which has earned 

 it the name of the " White tree." It is often 

 pollarded, but will grow into a fine tree if allowed, 

 reaching a height of fifty feet, with a girth of six, in 

 eighteen years. The Blue Willow has the leaves 

 smooth on the upper surface when old, and glaucous, 

 but not very silky, beneath ; and the Golden Willow 

 has bright yellow or reddish twigs, but slightly silky, 

 and leaves which also become smooth, and are often 

 not more than two inches long. 



The Triandra', having three stamens, include the 

 French Willow (S. triandra L.) and its related forms, 

 the Almond-leaved Willow (S. amygdali'na L.), S. 

 Hoff'mania'na, Sm., and S. undula'ta Ehrh., all of 

 which are used as Osiers, though they will grow to 



