1564 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART 111. 



has been supposed, in allusion to the leaves of the kinds of which it is con- 

 stituted turning black in drying, but to mark their affinity to S. nigricans 

 Smith, a well-known individual of their number. {Borrer in Eng. Bot. 

 Suppl. y t. 2795.) In this case, it may be supposed that the characters of S. 

 nigricans Smith are pretty well representative of those of each of the kinds 

 of the group. Some of the characters of S. nigricans Smith are described 

 below, No. 108. According to Mr. Borrer (Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2729,) it 

 is doubtful, in application to almost every kind of the group, whether it 

 is a species or not. 



It is shown, under the preceding group, that Mr. Borrer professes 

 himself not acquainted with all the kinds of that group and this ; and 

 that he may, therefore, have placed some of them wrongly. It may in- 

 terest the lovers of broad grounds of distinction in species to know 

 that Koch, who has applied this principle to the willows, has included 

 several of the kinds in this group, which are treated below as distinct spe- 

 cies, in one species. Under his species S. johylicifolia, he has cited S. johy- 

 licifolia Lin. Sp. PL, ii. 1442., Wittd. Sp. P/.,'iv. p. 659., exclusively of the 

 synonyme of Smith, Wahlenb. Fl.Lapp., No. 482. ; S. stylosa Dec.; S. stylaris 

 Seringe ; S. hastata Hoppe ; and S. hybrida Hoffm. ; as synonymes : and the 

 following as being still the species, under a more or less varied form, S. 

 nigricans Smith, S.Ammanmdna Willd., S. Andersom'ffwa Smith, S. spiraeaefolia 

 Willd. ex Link, S. rupestris Smith, S. Forsteriana Smith, S. hirta Smith, S. 

 cotinifolia Smith, and S. wlmifolia Hort. Bcrol. He has intimated, besides, 

 that several of the kinds distinguished by Schleicher also belong to this 

 species. Dr. Lindley, in his Synoptu of the British Flora, where he has 

 followed Koch wholly, has added to Koch's S. phylicifolia the kinds S. 

 rfamascena Forbes and S. Borreri;za Smith. Relatively to the principle of 

 rendering species in the willows thus comprehensive, Mr. Borrer makes the 

 following remark in Eng. Bot. Suppl., t. 2702. : " We have repeatedly 

 disclaimed all dogmatical decision as to what are species among the willows ; 

 nor have we ever denied the probability that many of those which, in the 

 present state of our knowledge, we think it expedient to propose as distinct 

 may be, in reality, mere seminal varieties or hybrids. This being admitted, 

 the further admission can scarcely be withheld, that those botanists may 

 possibly be correct in their views who regard, in some instances, as species 

 what we are accustomed to regard as sections of the genus." Mr. Borrer 

 has added, " Of these facile princeps is Koch, whose lucid DC Salidbus 

 Europteis Commentatio displays a most intimate acquaintance with his 

 subject." With regard to the details of Koch's adjudication of the above- 

 cited species S. phylicifolia, Mr. Borrer gives the following corrective 

 notices, which, for the sake of accuracy, we give below : 



Under S. damascene Forbes, Eng. Bot. Suppl.,t.2709.,itis remarked, " Koch 

 would, no doubt, refer S. damascena, as he does its affinities, S. Andersonidna, 

 S. nigricans, c., to Wahlenberg's S. phylicifolia ; but those botanists would 

 scarcely have appropriated the name to willows of this set, had they been 

 aware of the fact that the original Lapland specimen of S. />hylicifolia in 

 the Linnaean herbarium is indubitably, as was long since stated by Smith, 

 the S. johylicifolia of Eng. Bot., t. 1958. This last is united by Koch, with 

 numerous affinities, to S. arbuscula of Wahlenberg, which he regards as the 

 S. arbuscula of the Linnaean Flora Suecica." Under S. tenuifolia Smith this 

 remark occurs in Eng. Bot. Suppl., t. 2795. : " S. tenuifolia and S. rupes- 

 tris are so nearly allied, that we cannot undertake to point out satisfactory 

 distinctions ; yet Koch places S. tenuifolia under S. arbuscula, and S. ru- 

 pestris under S. /jhylicifolia." Under S. petrae N a Eng. Bot. Suppl., t. 2725., 

 is this remark : " It is surely by error that Koch has placed S. petrae x a 

 under his S. arbuscula, with S. johylicifolia of Smith ; and not under his own 

 S. />hylicifolia, with S. Ammannidna and its affinities." 



