Salix 



x 747 



size in East Prussia, Lithuania, and the Russian Baltic provinces, where, according to 

 Willkomm, it is often a fine tree, 30 to 50 ft. in height. It is naturally regenerated 

 by seed, and when cut down produces vigorous coppice shoots. It can be propagated 

 by cuttings and by sets. (A. H.) 



The sallow is common in all parts of the British Isles, growing in woods and 

 copses, and in waste places, but rarely attains a large size. It is often 20 to 30 ft. in 

 height, and sometimes produces a trunk a foot in diameter, but seems to be a short- 

 lived tree The finest which I have seen is growing by the roadside two miles below 

 the lodge at Guisachan, Inverness-shire, and measured in 1910 about 50 ft. by 6 feet. 

 It is the only willow which commonly grows from seed, and in some of my planta- 

 tions is so abundant that it may be called a forest weed. 



It is usually looked upon by foresters as a useless tree; but it has proved 

 valuable in fixing loose and shifting soil on river embankments and similar situations, 

 as it is so readily propagated by cuttings. Mitchell x says : " It is the best underwood 

 that we have. It makes good fences, and sheep hurdles made of it will always last 

 a year or two longer than those made of hazel ; and no soil or situation comes wrong 

 to it, wet or dry." In Sussex it is used for making truck-baskets and handles of 

 rakes, and also for fencing, as it is light and tough, and splits easily. 2 



Though the wood is of a nice pinkish colour, it is too small, as a rule, to have 

 any recognised value. In northern Russia (as well as formerly in Scotland) the 

 bark, which contains 7 per cent of tannin, is sometimes used for tanning leather. 



(H.J.E.) 



SALIX PENTANDRA, Bay Willow 



Salix pentandra, Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 1016 (1753) ; Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1503 (1838) ; Andersson, 

 Monog. Salic. 35 (1863), and in De Candolle, Prod. xvi. 2, p. 206 (1868); Willkomm, Forstliche 

 Flora, 475 (1887); Buchanan White, mjourn. Linn. Soc. {Bot.) xxvii. 359 (1890) ; Mathieu, Flora 

 Forestiire, 449 (1897); Camus, Monog. des Saules, 84 (1904). 



Salix fragrans, Salisbury, Prod. 393 (1796). 



A tree, occasionally attaining 30 to 40 ft. in height, but often shrubby in 

 the wild state. Young branchlets glabrous, dark brown, shining as if varnished. 

 Buds ovoid, pointed, dark brown, shining, viscid. Leaves fragrant when bruised, 

 ovate, ovate-oblong, or ovate-lanceolate, averaging 3 in. long and 1^ in. broad, 

 glutinous when young, coriaceous when fully grown ; rounded at the base, abruptly 

 acuminate at the apex ; glabrous on both surfaces, dark green and very shining above, 

 pale and dull beneath ; margin closely and finely serrate, the serrations tipped with 

 dark red glands ; petiole, about inch long, glabrous, with two or three glands near 

 its junction with the blade, and expanded at its origin from the branchlet, where there 

 are one or two glands probably representing stipules. 



Catkins, appearing with or after the leaves, terminating a branchlet which bears 

 four or five leaves, spreading ; axis pubescent. Staminate catkins 1^ in. long, densely 



1 Dendrologia, 56 (1827). Cf. Smith, Eng. Flora, iv. 227 (1828), who states that the wood and branches make the best 

 hurdles, being tough, flexible, and durable. The wood was also used for the cutting-boards of shoemakers. 

 J Gard. Chron. xlvi. 19 (1909). 



