CLASS XXII, ORDER I. | SALIX. 1229 
over, are so long, tough, and flexible, that they may be interwoven 
into any shape, and kept close to the ground, as they always retain 
their horizontal mode of growth. Such a fence is scarcely inferior to 
one made of wire, and is, perhaps, more durable, as continually pro- 
ducing young shoots to supply the place of those that decay.’— 
Eng. Flora. From the bark of this species, as well as the following 
and some others, a white salt in small scales has been obtained, 
having a very bitter taste, with something of the aroma of the Willow 
bark; to this salt the name of Salicin has been given. From the 
trials which have been made with it in the hospitals at Paris, in 
cases of intermittent fever, in the doses of six grains; it has been 
found to answer the purpose of sulphate of Quinine, three doses 
arresting the progress of the fever.. Besides this salt, the bark, 
according to Sir H. Davy, contains as much tanning principle, as 
that of the Oak bark, he found it to abound most in S. purpurea, 8S. 
fiusselliana, and S. alba. From the bitter and tanning properties of 
these plants it will be understood why it is that they are the most 
valuable for basket work, thatch bands, &c., as they are unpalatable 
to insects, and less liable to decay from the tanning they contain, 
and planted in hedge rows, cattle will not browse upon them for the 
same reason. 
2. S. He'lix, Linn. (Fig. 1476.) Bose Willow. Monandrous, 
erect ; catkins sessile, bracteated at the base; capsules oblong, ovate, 
sessile, very pubescent; styles short; stigmas almost linear, emar 
ginate ; leaves lanceolate, broadest upwards, attenuated below, ser- 
rated, smooth. 
English Botany, t. 1343.—English Flora, vol. iv. p. 188.—Salict. 
Wob. p. 3. t. 2.—Hooker, British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 854.—S. 
purpurea, y.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 232. 
A tree of about ten feet high, erect, with smooth erect branches, 
and the bark of a pale yellowish or purplish ash colour. Leaves 
similar to the last, though rather less glaucous, and turning like the 
former to a purplish black in drying. Catkins erect, bracteated at the 
base. Styles very short, with two spreading stigmas, deeply cleft into 
linear lobes. Capsules oblong, ovate, sessile, about as long or longer 
than the scale, very downy. 
Habitat.—Marshes and banks of rivers. 
Low tree; flowering in March and April. 
The common name of Rose Willow given to this plant is from the 
rose-like expansions, which are often found on the ends of the 
branches, formed of a number of small deformed leaves, arranged not 
unlike the petals of arose. This monstrosity is caused by an insect 
depositing its eggs in the summit of the twigs, and which, in conse- 
quence of the irritation produced, causes them to throw out these 
excrescences. 
