SALICINE^ 



DWARF SILKY WILLOW, Salix repens. 



Heaths and commons. April, ]May. 



Flowers dicecious, appearing with leaves ; Male catkhis cylindrical-oblong or 

 ovate, J— I in. long, j-J in. diam., erect, sessile or sub-sessile, with foliaceous 

 bracts ; Stamens 2, free, filament long, glabrous, anther ovoid, yellow, turning 

 to black after dehiscence, scales spathulate or obovate, yellowish-green or purple, 

 with dark tips, dense long velvety hairs ; Females \-^ in. long, l-^, in. diam. ; 

 Ovary pedicellate, conoid, silky or glabrous, style short, stigmas yellow, rosy 

 or purple, entire or split, diverging or not ; Fruit a capsule, 3J times as large 

 as gland, pedicelled, usually silky, catkins 1 in. long. 



Leaves alternate, very variable, oblong-lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, or 

 elliptic to ovate, 1-li in. long, 1-J in. broad, margins entire or serratulate, 

 recurved, obtuse or acute, glabrous and dark green above, silky beneath, or 

 sometimes both sides : petiole short ; stipules minute, lanceolate, or obsolete. 

 Autumn tints yellow and brown. 



A deciduous shrub; Stems ascending 1-3 ft., or procumbent, creeping 

 under ground and rooting at base ; Young shoots and leaf-buds densely silky 

 white. 



Common in all parts of British Isles. Some botanists make many varieties, 

 each with minor characteristics. 



OSIER, Salix viminalis. 



Wet places, osier beds. April, June. 



Flowers dioecious, appearing before leaves ; Male catkins |-1 in. long, ^-f in. 



broad, sessile, cylindrical; Stamens 2, free, glabrous, anthers golden-yellow, 



scales obovate, silky, brown, gland slender ; Females ^— J in. broad, sub-sessile ; 



Ovary sub-sessile, ovoid-conic, silky, style hnear, stigma yellow, deeply bifid; 



Fruit a capsule, sessile or shortly pedicelled, tapering, base broad, downy, stigmas 



rarely bifid, valves widely divaricate. 



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