WILLOW TREE. 387 



specific name from the white silken surface of the leaves 

 on the under side. The bark is used to tan leather, and 

 to dye yarn of a cinnamon colour. It is one of the trees 

 to which the necessitous Kamtschatdales are often obliged 

 to recur for their daily bread, which they make of the 

 inner bark, ground into flour. 



The bark of this Willow has in some cases been found 

 a good substitute for the Peruvian bark. 



The Grey Willow, or Sallow, Salix ciiierea, grows 

 from six to twelve feet high. In many parts of England, 

 children gather the flowering branches of this tree on 

 Palm Sunday, and call them Palms. With the bark, 

 the inhabitants of the Highlands and the Hebrides tan 

 leather. The wood, which is soft, white, and flexible, is 

 made into handles for hatchets, spades, &c. It also 

 furnishes shoemakers with their cutting-boards, and whet- 

 ting-boards to smooth the edges of their knives upon. 



The species, hitherto mentioned are all Britons ; the 

 Weeping Willow, Saliv Babylonica, is a native of the 

 Levant ; and, according to horticultural records, was not 

 cultivated in this country till 17BO. 



This tree, with its long, slender, pendulous branches, 

 is surely one of the most elegant ornaments of English 

 scenery. The situation which it affects, also, on the mar- 

 gins of brooks or rivers, increases its beauty, of which, 

 like Narcissus, it often seems to bend over the water for 

 the purpose of admiring the reflection : 



Shadowy trees, that lean 



So elegantly o'er the water's brim." 



The Willows are in general quick of growth ; and if 

 the accounts be correct, of the time of the introduction 



c c 2 



