268 WILLOWS 



narrow, lanceolate, glabrous, glaucous beneath. Twigs 

 olive-brown or reddish, smooth, bearing brown buds. 

 Characterised by its 3 stamens. Remarkable in casting 

 the bark in grey scales, or flakes. 



-^ -r S/in(bs or sviall bushy trees, not 

 true Osiers. 



8 Shoots and young leaves silky 

 pubescent; older leaves silky 

 beneath ; twigs not fragile at 

 the insertion. 



Salix alba, L. White Willow (Fig. 135). A round-headed 

 tree 50 — 80 feet, often pollarded, and certain varieties — e.g. 

 vitellina — planted as Osiers. Bark yellowish-grey, deeply 

 fissured ; twigs smooth, yellowish to olive-brown, not brittle 

 at the insertions. The shoots and lower surfaces of the 

 lanceolate leaves are whitish with appressed silky pu- 

 bescence. 8. fragilis is devoid of this silky covering and 

 its twigs are brittle at the insertion. 



8 8 Leaves not silky, and twigs 

 fragile. 



Salix fragilis, L. Crack Willow (Fig. 136). A tree up to 

 50 — 60 feet in height or more, usually more bushy-headed 

 than S. alba, owing to closer and more crossing branches, 

 but especially characterised by the fragility of the twigs at 

 their insertions. Twigs smooth, polished, yellowish-grey 

 to pale brown or olive. Leaves narrow, lanceolate, not 

 silky beneath. Old bark fissured, thick. The so-called 

 Huntingdon Willow, S. Russelliana, is possibly a hybrid 

 between this and S. alba, or a variety allied to them. 

 They all occur as Pollard Willows. 



