1490 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



FART III, 



Group i. Purpurete Koch, Borrer. 



Osier Willows, until one Stamen in a Flower. 



Monandras is the name adopted for this group in Hook. Br. Fl., ed. 3. ; but Mr. Bqrrer considers 

 Purpureae preferable, because it is taken, like the name of each of the other groups in this ar- 

 rangement, from the name of a species included in lhat group. Purpureae, too, is the name given 

 by Koch to the same group. 



Filament 1, bearing an anther of 4 lobes, and 4 cells; or, in S. rubra, forked, 

 and each branch bearing an anther of 2 lobes and 2 cells. Germen sessile. 

 Catkins very compact. Trees of low stature, or shrubs with twiggy branches, ' 

 and leaves that are more or less lanceolate, and serrated, and often broader 

 upwards. Interior part of the bark, in most, yellow and very bitter. 

 (Hook. Sr. Fl.) The leaves of nearly all of the kinds of this group turn 

 black in drying. The inner bark of most of the kinds included in this group 

 is extremely bitter, which renders the plants suitable for banks of rivers, 

 and other places which are infested by rats ; as the bitterness prevents 

 these animals from eating it. 



& 1. S. PURPU^REA L. The purple Willow. 



Identification. Lin. Sp. PL, 1444. ; Smith Eng. Bot., t. 1388. ; Eng. FL, 4. p. 187. ; Forbes in Sal. 



Wob., No. 1. ; Hook. Br. Fl., ed. 3., p. 417. ; Mackay Fl. Hibern., pt. 1. p. 243. ; Hayne Abbild., 



p. !229. 



The Sexes. Both sexes are figured in Eng. Bot., and are in cultivation in some English collections. 

 Synonyme. S. purpurea a Koch Comm., p. 25. 



Engravines. Eng. Bot, t. 1318. : Sal. Wob., No. 1. ; Hayne Abbild., t. 169. ; our fig. 1294. ; and 

 fig. 1. in p. 16U& 



Spec. Char., fyc. Branches trailing, decumbent. Leaves partly opposite, 

 obovate-lanceolate, serrated, very smooth, narrow at the base. Stamen 1 . 

 Stigmas very short, ovate, nearly sessile. (Smith Eng. FL) A native of 

 Britain (between Thorpe and Norwich, &c.) ; flowering 

 in March and April. In a wild state, this species forms a 

 shrub, with a stem 3 ft. or 4 ft. high, with long, slender, 

 smooth branches, spreading widely, and, if not supported, 

 trailing on the ground ; very smooth, of a rich and shining 

 purple, with a somewhat glaucous hue. The catkins 

 appear earlier than the foliage; and often on different 

 branches. In cultivation, in dug grounds kept moist 

 and the plants cut down yearly, this species produces 

 shoots from 3 ft. to .5 ft. long, which are much esteemed 

 for the finer sorts of basketwork. It is also frequently 

 planted in Norfolk and Suffolk, and in some parts of 

 Essex, for "plaiting into close low fences, for the ex- 

 clusion of hares and rabbits; the bark and leaves being so extremely 

 bitter, that these animals will touch neither ; whilst the shoots, being long, 

 tough, and flexible, may be formed into any shape; and a fence of this kind 

 is reckoned little inferior to that of wire." (Eng. /Yora, quoted in Sal. Wob. y 

 . p. 2.) This species is well adapted for planting in ornamental shrubberies, 

 from the elegant slenderness of its twigs during winter ; the redness of its 

 catkins, the anthers of which are of that colour before they burst, and the 

 fine purplish arid glaucous hue of its young shoots and leaves. The latter, 

 as will be seen by the figure of one of the natural size in p. 1603., are of 

 an elegant, and, if we may use the expression, artistical shape. Female 

 plants are in the Hackney and Goldworth arboretums, and at Woburn 

 and Flitwick ; and male and female at Henfield. The male plant, being the 

 most beautiful when in flower, ought to be most propagated by nurserymen. 



Varieties. Koch, in his J)e Salicibus Europteis Commentatio, has described six ; but he includes the 

 S. Welix and Lambertidna (to be described as species below) as two of them. He has charac- 

 terised the six varieties as follows : 



1294 



