THE HORSE-CHESTNUT FAMILY. 523 



THE WILLOW AND POPLAR FAMILY (Salicacece)* 



A small group of amentaceous or eatkin-bearing trees, repre- 

 sented in our gardens and woods by numerous forms of Salix 

 (Willows) and Populus (Poplars). They are natives of nearly 

 all northern countries. The male and female flowers are borne 

 separately ; and in the case of the Willow, numerous natural 

 hybrids have been from time to time produced. Many of the 

 species and forms are much valued by the basket-maker, and 

 the wood of Willows is valued for turnery. Seeds of both 

 Willows and Poplars grow readily sown as soon as ripe in open- 

 air beds of moist earth. Both genera are remarkable for their 

 rapid growth, and they may be readily multiplied by cuttings 

 of the young shoots inserted in beds of moist earth in mild 

 weather during the autumn or winter months. Large branches 

 or truncheons, four or five feet in length, root freely if driven 

 into moist earth, and Willows are frequently so propagated for 

 fences along brooks and rivers or other water-margins. The 

 natural hybrids or cross-bred varieties of Willow to be found in 

 Britain are wellnigh innumerable, the variations (like those of 

 the British Rubi} being in many cases abundantly evident to 

 the eye, but it is quite impossible to describe them in an intel- 

 ligent manner. Loudon enumerates over 250 varieties as being 

 cultivated in his time. Willows and Poplars grow so freely from 

 cuttings of the branches, even of a considerable size, that grafting 

 or budding is rarely resorted to. The Weeping Willows, how- 

 ever, are often budded on the Common Willow or S. caprea as a 

 stock ; and the White Poplar, Black Poplar, and Aspen form ex- 

 cellent stocks for their sub-varieties and allies. In budding Wil- 

 lows, when the stocks are slender, bend them so as to bury the 

 inserted bud in the soil for a week or two, as this assists the 

 union : some bandage with moss instead. 



THE HORSE-CHESTNUT FAMILY (Safindacta). 



A group of trees and shrubs, principally confined to the 

 tropics, especially of South America, India, and Africa. None 

 are wild in Europe, the most northern type being the Horse- 

 Chestnuts in North India, Persia, and North America. It is 

 curious to note that while many plants in the order are poison- 



* See Wichura's Observations on the Hybridisation of Willows, ' Jour. 

 Royal Hort. Soc.,' 1866, vol. i., p. 57. 



