OLASS XXII. ORDER 1. ] SALIX. 1239 
Habitat.—Moist woods and osier grounds; not unfrequent. 
Tree ; flowering in April and May. 
This, though nearly allied to the last species, it is important to dis- 
tinguish, as the properties and value are greatly different. ‘The bark, 
according to the investigation of the late George Biggin, Esq., of 
Cosgrove Priory, contains a greater proportion of tanning matter 
than that of Oak bark; and according to Sir J. E. Smith, it is this 
and not S. fragilis which contains the salicine, and may be used as a 
substitute of Quinine The wood is considered the most useful of 
the Wiltow tribe, and its value as a plantation tree may be estimated 
from the account which Mr. Lowe gives in his survey of the county 
of Nottingham : he states that the poles yielded a net profit of £214 
per acre, and in two years more they would probably have produced 
£300 per acre. A “tree stood near the public footpath in the fields 
between the city of Lichfield and Stowe Hill, the residence of the 
celebrated ‘Molly Ashton’” This was the famous Willow of the 
celebrated Dr. Johnson, which he, or his father, planted. Such was 
the delight that he took in this tree that he said it was the joy of his 
early and waning life, and on his visiting Lichfield he never failed to 
visit it. Dr. Trevor Jones, a physician at Lichfield, at the request of 
Dr. Johnson, gave him the following particulars of the tree, as re- 
corded in the Philosophical Transactions. The trunk rose to the 
height of twelve feet eight five-tenths inches, and then divided into 
fifteen large ascending branches, which, in very numerous and 
crowded sub-divisions, spread at the top in a circular form, not unlike 
the appearance of a shady Oak, inclining a little towards the east. 
The circumference of the trunk at the bottom was fifteen feet nine 
five-tenths inches; in the middle, eleven feet ten inches; and at the 
top immediately below the branches, thirteen feet. ‘The entire height 
of the tree was forty-nine feet; and the circumference of the branches 
at their extremities upwards of two hundred feet, overshadowing a 
plane not far short of four thousand feet. ‘The surface of the trunk 
was very uneven, and the bark much furrowed. The tree had then 
(Nov. 29, 1781) a vigorous and thriving appearance. The most mo- 
derate computation of its age was at that time near fourscore years ; 
and some respectable aathorities were strongly inclined to think that 
a century had passed over its head.” In April, 1810, Dr. Withering 
found the trunk to girt twenty-one feet at six feet from the ground, 
and to extend twerty feet in height; before dividing into enormous 
ramifications it was then perfectly sound and in unimpaired vigour. 
It was at various periods injured by being blown away with violent 
storms, and at last in April, 1829, it was blown to the ground by the 
violence of a storm. The wood was converted into snuff boxes and 
other articles by the admirers of Johnson, and kept as a remem- 
brance of him, and as a record of so famous a tree. In the same 
’ situation another young plant is said to be flourishing from a 
