466 LXXI. SALICINE^E. [Salix. 



male catkins and sharply-serrate leaves, as a variety of >$'. babylonica. C. 

 Koch 1. c. 506, keeps it distinct, and states that the branchlets are not pendulous. 

 Koempfer describes the tree with hanging branches. The Weeping Willow of 

 Europe is probably nothing but the pendulous variety of a Willow with erect 

 branches, analogous to the Weeping Ash or the pyramidal Poplar, Oak, and 

 Kikar, and having constantly been propagated from cuttings and not from seed, 

 its characters have not varied. Regarding the character and mode of growth of 

 the original wild forms of this species farther inquiries are needed. The names 

 of S. tetrasperma (laila) and of babylonica (majnun) are supposed to relate to 

 the well-known Persian love-story, the subject of many poems (Stewart Pb. 

 PI. 208). 



4. S. alba, Linn. ; Hook. Stud. Fl. 337 ; Eeichenb. Ic. Fl. Germ. t. 

 608. Common Willow. Saule blanc, Fr. ; Weisse Weide, Germ. 



A large silky -pubescent tree with grey or whitish foliage. Leaves 

 white beneath with adpressed silky hairs, narrow-lanceolate, denticulate ; 

 stipules lanceolate, deciduous. Flowers after the leaves, catkins on leaf- 

 bearing peduncles. Male catkins compact, cylindric, drooping ; stamens 2 

 rarely more, scales yellow or brown, oblong, ciliate. Female catkins lax, 

 scales yellow, ciliate. Capsules pubescent, subsessile ; style short, bifid, 

 each branch bearing a bifid stigma. 



Cultivated in Laclak, Kashmir, to 6000 ft. (Thomson Western Himalaya, 180). 

 Western Asia, Siberia, North Africa. Europe (introduced from Asia, according 

 to Andersson). Fl. April. Attains 70-80 ft., but is commonly cultivated in 

 Europe as a pollard tree along streams and on moist meadows or pastures. A 

 variety with yellow or reddish branchlets (vitellina) is common in Osier beds. 

 The wood of this, as of most Willows, is white near the circumference, yellow or 

 brown towards the centre, the medullary rays are fine and numerous, the pores 

 are very numerous, fine and uniformly distributed. The annual rings are dis- 

 tinctly marked by a dark line. It is soft, and weighs 26-33 lb. 



5. fragilis, L. ; Hook. Stud. Fl. 336 ; Reichenb. Ic. Fl. Germ. t. 609 The 

 Crack- or Redwood Willow, is a fast-growing moderate-sized bushy tree, extremi- 

 ties silky-pubescent, branchlets divergent, forming nearly a right angle with the 

 branches, and easily broken off at the junction (whence the name). Leaves 

 glabrous, lanceolate or oblanceolate, crenate or serrate. Flowers after the 

 leaves, catkins generally lax, on leafy peduncles, scales long, pale-yellow, ob- 

 long-lanceolate, obtuse ciliate. Male catkins cylindric, drooping, stamens 2, 

 free, sometimes 3-4. Capsules glabrous, short-pedicellate, narrowed into a short 

 bifid style, each branch bearing a bifid stigma. Europe (often cultivated), 

 Siberia, Asia Minor, Aleppo, Caucasus. One (male) specimen from Lahoul 

 (Rev. H. Jaeschke). Cultivated in Ladak with S. alba (Thomson 1. c. 180). 

 Wood (in Europe) yellowish red, supposed to be more durable than that of 

 other Willows. 



S. Russelliana, Sm., the Bedford Willow, is a variety of 8. fragilis; by some 

 it is considered a hybrid between 8. fragilis and alba. 



5. S. elegans, Wall. ; DC. Prodr. xvi. ii. 256. Syn. 8. Kumaonensis, 

 Lindl. 8. denticulata, And. j Reise Prinz. Wald. t. 89. The following 

 names, given in Pb. PI. 208, partly relate to this species : Beis, bitsu, bed, 

 bida, beli, yir, Chenab ; Badd, Ravi ; Bashal, Sutlej. 



