148 FAMILIAR TREES 



faces. Almost all known trees in Britain are female, 

 and this form for Ave can hardly term it a species 

 is also characterised by the ovate form of its ovary. 



As to the scientific name Salix, we are told, in 

 Thomas Newton's " Herball for the Bible" (1587), 

 that "the Willow is called Salix, and hath his 

 name & saliendo, for that it quicklie groweth up, 

 and soon becommeth a tree. Herewith do they in 

 some countres trim up their parlours and dining 

 roomes in sommer, and sticke fresh greene leaves 

 thereof about their beds for coolness." 



Though this etymology " from leaping " may 

 be doubtful, even with the analogous case of our 

 own word " quick " applied to the Hawthorn, there can 

 be little doubt that the old English name " Sallow " 

 is a corruption from the Latin, whilst the other 

 two names, Willow and Withy, both probably refer 

 to the flexibility of the young branches. 



Though the Weeping Willow is commonly 

 planted in burial grounds both in China and in Turkey, 

 its tearful symbolism has been mainly recognised in 

 modern times, and among Christian peoples. As has 

 been Avell said : " The Cypress was long considered as 

 the appropriate ornament of the cemetery ; but its 

 gloomy shade among the tombs, and its thick, heavy 

 foliage of the darkest green, inspire only depressing 

 thoughts, and present death under its most appalling 

 image, whilst the Weeping Willow, on the contrary, 

 rather conveys a picture of the grief felt for the loss 

 of the departed than of the darkness of the grave. 

 Its light and elegant foliage flows like the dishevelled 

 hair and graceful drapery of a sculptured mourner 



