CHAP. CII1. 



15*23 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, pointed, serrated, silky on both 

 sides ; the lowest serratures glandular. Stamens hairy. Germen smooth, 

 almost sessile. Stigmas deeply cloven. Scales notched. (Sal. Wob., 

 p. 271.) A native of Europe, from Norway and Sweden to the Mediter- 

 ranean Sea; of the north-east and west of Asia ; and introduced into the 

 United States; near all the larger rivers of Russia and Livonia, es- 

 pecially the Irtish, where it attains the height of a large tree. 

 It is frequent in Britain, and also in Ireland ; and has long 

 been more extensively planted as a timber tree than any other 

 species. It grows rapidly, attaining the height of 30 ft. in ten 

 or twelve years, and growing 50 ft. or 60 ft. high, or upwards, 

 even on inferior soils. In favourable situations, it will reach 

 the height of 80 ft. or upwards. It is very extensively planted 

 as a pollard tree, not only in Britain, but in many parts of the 

 Continent, and even in Russia ; some hundreds of miles of 

 the road from Moscow to the Austrian frontier, where it 

 crosses those interminable steppes that appear bounded only 

 by the horizon, being marked by pollards of S. alba, at regular 

 distances along each side of the road. 1314 



Varieties. Mr. Borrer suggests that, perhaps, two species are included in 

 S. alba. (Borr. in a letter.) " One of the few botanists really acquainted 

 with willows, Mr. Borrer, has suggested that there are some presumptive 

 distinctions between our S. alba and that of Hoffmann, in the shape of the 

 lower leaves, and of the bracteas (scales), as well as in the length and 

 density of the catkins." (Smith in Eng. Fl., iv. p. 232.) 



2 S. a. 2 can-idea; S. alba var. Smith Fl. Brit., p. 1072. ; S. caerulea 

 Smith Eng. Sot., t. 2431., Forbes in Sal. Wob., No. 137., Smith in 

 Reefs Cyclo., No. 141.; S.alba Smith Eng. FL, iv. p. 231., Koch 

 Comm., p. 16. The upland, or red-tinged, Willow, Pontey Profit. 

 Planter, 4th ed., 1814, p. 72. ; the Leicester Willow, Davy's Agricul- 

 tural 'Chemistry, 1st ed.; BlneWillow, Smith, and our/g. 137. in p. 1629. 

 This kind has been treated of by Smith as a variety of S. alba in his 

 1*7. Brit., as a species in Eng. Sot., and subsequently, in his Eng. 

 Fl., as a variety of S. alba. Forbes, in Sal. Wob., has treated of it 

 as a species, and given the following distinctive character of it, which is 

 the same as that given in Eng. Sot. Leaves lanceolate, taper-pointed, 

 serrated ; the under side at length almost naked of hairs ; the lowest 

 serratures glandular. Stigmas deeply cloven. (Sal. Wob., p. 273.) 

 The female is figured in Eng. Sot., where the male is stated to be 

 not discovered; but the figure in Sal. Wob., given as ofthis kind, 

 exhibits the latter sex, which is common, Mr. Borrer informs us, 

 about Chichester, Bognor, &c., almost to the exclusion of the female ; 

 whilst he has never seen a male S. alba in flower in Sussex, 

 eastward of the neighbourhood of Arundel, with the exception of some 

 which he had himself introduced. S. a. caerulea is a native of Britain, 

 in meadows and moist woods ; flowering, in the Woburn collection, in 

 May, and again in August. This willow, Sir J. E. Smith observes, 

 which is " mentioned in the Flora Sritannica as a variety of S. alba, is 

 so remarkable and so valuable, that we venture to name it as a species, 

 that it may be the more noticed. The male flowers, when known, may, 

 perhaps, afford better characters than we have been able to obtain 

 from the leaves. The late Mr. Crowe, who found the female plant 

 wild in Suffolk, was of opinion that this might be taken for S. alba in 

 many parts of England, the real one(E. .fl.,t.2430. [our/g.1315.]) not 

 being known in some of the northern counties. He had for many years 

 paid great attention to this tree, as have Mr. Rigby at Framlingham, 

 and Mr. Browne at Hetherset, Norfolk. A cutting, planted by the 

 latter, became, in 10 years, a tree 35 ft. high, and 5 ft. 2 in. in girt, 

 and was blown down in 1800. This is a rapidity of growth beyond 

 5 G 3 



