Trees, Shrubs and Vines 
calls a distinct species another thinks only a variety, the 
whole genus well exemplifying the truth that variety and 
species differ only in degree, not in kind. Without 
wishing to discourage research into the microscopic di- 
versities of those closely related forms, indicating a com- 
paratively recent common origin, it must be said that 
for anyone whose aim is the enjoyment of nature in its 
broader outlook, it is not worth while to investigate the 
minutiz of willow-variation, since the number of ex- 
perienced botanists is small who have grappled thor- 
oughly with the subject. 
Our native willows are all shrubs or very low trees ; 
the arboreal sorts are foreign and to a small degree 
naturalized. These latter are of great service in lawn- 
culture, as presenting a noble and exceedingly graceful 
arboreal figure, without the heaviness of dense and deep 
green foliage, thus having the charm of water-color 
rather than of oil-painting. In any water-scene, along 
a brook, or on the margin of a lake, nothing blends 
more exquisitely than such willowy, translucent figures, 
relieving the eye from the solid tones of the more vigor- 
ous and masculine trees by infusion of an ethereal and 
feminine atmosphere. It were easy to imagine some of 
those elegant and airy forms to be the embodiment of 
old-time nymphs, in punishment or reward finding their 
eternal future at the water’s brink. 
The yellow willow (Salix alba var. vitellina) is justly 
a favorite. Long before a single bud has swelled, even 
in midwinter, it throws out the first signal of spring in 
the golden-tinted bark of its bare branches, deepening 
in color till the burnished mass of lithe twigs, in a clus- 
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