38 WILD FLOWERS. 



And now, as an old poet sings, the " palms 

 put forth their braverie," and the early willows 

 are covered with their grey, or yellow calkins, 

 around which, on a bright day, the bees hum 

 perpetually. The willow commonlj'' called 

 palm, is the great round-leaved willow, (Salix 

 caprea,) and its golden balls are a beautiful 

 ornament to the woodland scenery. They are 

 called by country children yellow goslings ; and 

 the old custom of decking the houses with the 

 willow branch, in the week succeeding Palm 

 Sunday, is still retained in villages. It is 

 often, also, carried about at this season of the 

 year, as a representation of the palm branches, 

 which the children strewed in the way when 

 our Saviour entered Jerusalem, It is not easy 

 to guess why this tree should have been selected 

 to represent the oriental palm, as it is altogether 

 unlike it. If we except the weeping willow, 

 (Salix Bahjlonica) — which, though common in 

 this country, is not indigenous, — there is little 

 beauty in the willows generally ; but they are 

 very useful trees to the tanner and basket- 

 maker, and are valuable for poles and fences. 



The hazel {CoryJus avelland) is now decked 

 with its hanging tassels, and the wind, as it 

 rushes on, in playful gusts, through the woods, 

 stirring up the streams, waves also the boughs 

 of the alder, which are becoming covered with 

 their dark gloomy foliage. The alder (Almts 

 ylutinosa) is a sombre tree. Its leaves are sin- 

 gularly glutinous ; so much so, that if placed 

 between the teeth, one might fancy, on biting 



