SALIC ACEtE. 257 



Geograpfnj. — This variety abouuds in the southern parts of England, espe- 

 cially about Loudon. 



Var. Napoleona. Shoots reddisli-greeu ; leaves as in var. vulgaris, but 

 exstipulate. 



Geof/raphi/. — This variety is supposed to have arisen from cuttings carried 

 from England and planted in St. Helena. In 1823 cuttings were taken from 

 a tree which stood near Napoleon's grave, and plante<l in England ; from 

 these plantings cuttings were brought to America, and the weeping willows 

 of the eastern parts of the United States agree in botanical characteristics 

 with this variety. 



Var. crispa, syn. S. annularis. (Curled Willow. Ring-leaved Willow.) 

 Leaves lanceolate, acuminate, serrate, glabrous and glaucous underneath, 

 curled into a ring. 



Geographij. — The variety native to England has been brought l)y nursery- 

 men to America, and is found frequently in planted grounds throughout the 

 eastern United States. 



Etipnologij. — Salix, the generic name of the willow, is derived f r(jm the two 

 Celtic word.s, sal, near, and lis, water, due to tlie circumstance that it delights 

 in wet places. Willow, the common name, comes from the Low German word 

 wichel, give way, or bend, and is due to the pliancy of the branches. Babt/- 

 lonica, the specific name, is said to have been suggested to Liuuaius by the 

 following passage from the 137th Tsalm : — 



" By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down ; 

 Yea we wept when we remembered Zion ; 

 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof." 



Historij. — Tt is generally believed that the first tree of this s])ecies grown 

 in England was the celebrated Twickenham tree, which has the following 

 history : Alexander Pope, the poet, received from the Levant a box of fresh 

 figs, packed in willow leaves. The poet noticed that tlie small twigs to which 

 the leaves were attached were alive, and hoping to get a new plant, rooted 

 one, which grew into the renowned tree. Another account says that the poet 

 was present when a package oi merchandise from Spain was opened ; tlie 

 hoops that bound it were willow, one of which Pope planted, and thus obtained 

 the tree. This is said to have taken place in 1730. Another date is also 

 claimed for the advent of the weeping willow into England, 1692, tliirty-eight 

 years previous. If it was i)lanted at the earlier date, Po])e couhl have had no 

 agency in its planting, for he was then in his fourth year. 



In the Magazine of American Ilistorv. it is stated that Sir Henry Clinton 

 brought cuttings of the weeping willow to America, which were planted 

 on the estate of John P. Custis, in Virginia. 



If Sir Henry Clinton brought the ^first, ho could not have brought the var. 

 Najxjleona, for that was first planted in England in 1823, and Clinton came to 

 America in 177.'), and died in 179'). If he brought the willow, it wa.*j a cutting, 

 most likely from the variety vulgaris, which is very common in England, and 

 not the Napoleona, which is the variety that prevails among our nurserymen, 

 . and has been lirought to Ainerica since 1823. It cannot be true that no 

 weeping willows grew lu^re previous to 1823, for it .«!eems improl)able that 

 some of the large willows should have grown to the size they have attained 

 in so few years. In 1848 a tree in a garden in Flushing measured 14 feet in 

 circumference, making it al)out 4^ feet in diameter. 

 ^.K. Fl.— 18 



