CHAP. CHI. SALlCA^CEdS. A*LIX. 1507 



basket willow." Mr. Forbes received it from Messrs. Loddiges, under the 

 name of S. Meyeridna ; which species, he says, is readily distinguished from 

 S. liicida by its much larger leaves, and shorter obtuse catkins. There are 

 plants in the Goldworth Arboretum, and in the salictum at Woburn. 



Group v. Fragiles Borrer. 



Trees, with their Twigs mostly brittle at the Joint*. 



Stamens 2 to a flower. Ovary glabrous, elongated, seated upon a more or 

 less obvious stalk. Flowers very loosely disposed in the catkin. Leaves 

 lanceolate, serrated, glabrous, stipuled. The plants, trees of considerable 

 size. (Hook. Br. Ft., ed. 2., adapted.) 



19. S. BABYLO'NICA. The Babylonian, or weeping, Willow. 



Identification. Lin. Sp. PL, 1443. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 671. ; Smith in Rees's Cyclo., No. 42. : Forbes 



in SaL \Vob., No. 2^. ; Koch Comm.,p. 17., note; Pursh H. Amer. Sept., 2. p. 614. 

 Synonymes. S. prop^ndens Sering. Sal. Hel., p. 7.3. (Koch) ; S. orientalis, &c., Tourn. \ S. ar&bica, 



&c., C. Bauh. ; Saule pleureur, Parasol du grand Seigneur, Fr. ; Trauer Weide, T^hranen Weide, 



Ger. 

 The Sexes. The female is figured in Sal. Wob. ; the male is not known, in a living state, in Britain ; 



unless it be S. b. Napolebno, as suggested in p. 1513. 

 Engravings. Rauw. It., 25. 183. ; Sal. Wob., No. 22. ; our Jig. 22. in p. 1607. ; and the plates of this 



tree in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Leaves lanceolate, acuminate, finely serrated, glabrous ; 

 glaucous beneath. Catkins protruded at the same time as the leaves. 

 Ovary ovate, sessile, glabrous. (Willd. Sp. PL, 4 p. 671.) A native of 

 Asia, on the banks of the Euphrates, near Babylon, whence its name ; and 

 also of China, and other parts of Asia ; and of Egypt, and other parts of 

 the north of Africa. It is said to have been first brought into England by 

 Mr. Vernon, a merchant at Aleppo, who sent it to his seat at Twickenham 

 Park, at about 1730, where it was seen growing by the celebrated Peter 

 Collinson, in 1748. In the Hortus Kewensis, the date of its introduction is 

 given as 1692; but no particulars are stated respecting it. Delille, in 

 a note to his UHomme des Champs, says that Tournefort first introduced 

 it into Europe ; and some authors, on the authority of the St. James's 

 Chronicle for August, 1801, assert that Pope introduced it into England, 

 and that his favourite tree at Twickenham was the first planted in this 

 country. The story is, that Pope, happening to be with Lady Suffolk, 

 when that lady received a present from Spain, or, according to some, from 

 Turkey, observed that some of the pieces of withy bound round it appeared 

 as though they would vegetate ; and, taking them up said, " Perhaps these 

 may produce something that we have not in England." Whereupon, the 

 story adds, he planted one of them in his garden at Twickenham ; which 

 became the weeping willow, afterwards so celebrated. This paper was 

 published about the time that Pope's willow was cut down, because the 

 possessor of his villa was annoyed by persons asking to see it. The most 

 probable of these stories appears to be, that the tree was brought to 

 Europe by Tournefort. It is now universally cultivated wherever it will 

 stand the open air, not only in Europe, but in Asia, and in the civilised 

 parts of Africa : it is also a great favourite in North America. That this 

 tree is a favourite one in China, and also very common in that country, 

 appears from the frequent representations of it that are found on porcelain, 

 tea-chests, &c. It is also pictured in a view of the village of Tonnan, drawn 

 by John Nicohotf, July 3. 1655, on his way to Pekin, with the embassy 

 which the Dutch sent to the Emperor of China in that year. (Syl. Flor., 2. 

 p. 265.) That the Chinese use it in their planted garden scenery, along 

 with other ornamental trees, is evident, from the published views of the 



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