163 



DIOECIA DIANDRIA. 



448. SALIX. Willow, Sallow, and Osier. 



Linn.Gen.5\4. Juss. 408. Sm. in Rees's Cycl. v. 31. FLBr.1039. 

 Toiirn. t.364. Lam. t. 802. Gtertn.t. 90. 



Nat. Ord. Amentacece. Linn. 50. Juss. 99. 



Barr.jl. Catkin oblong, many-flowered, imbricated every 

 way. Cat. a single-flowered, oblong, spreading, flexible 

 scale. Pet. none. 'Nect. a small, lateral, oblong, abrupt, 

 compressed, honey-bearing gland, sometimes double. 

 Filam. 2, rarely I, or from 3 to 5 or more, straight, 

 thread-shaped, longer than the calyx; in some partly 

 combined. Aiith. 2-lobed, of 2 or 4 cells. 



Fert.Jl. CatJc. and Cal. as in the barr. fl. Pet. none. Nect. as 

 in the barr.jl. Germ, superior, ovate, sessile or stalked. 

 Style terminal, various in length, extending a little be- 

 yond the calyx, permanent. Stigm. 2, notched and ob- 

 tuse, or cloven and acute, spreading. Caps, ovate, ob- 

 tuse, or tapering, of 1 cell, with 2 revolute, concave 

 valves. Seeds numerous, minute, oval, tufted, with soft, 

 simple, upright hairs. 



Trees or shrubs, with round, flexible branches. Leaves sim- 

 ple, undivided, stalked, generally alternate, deciduous. 

 Stipulas in pairs at the base of the footstalks, very variable, 

 in size, deciduous. Catkins early, erect or drooping, 

 either from the same buds as the leaves, or more com- 

 monly from different ones. Their Jlorets are almost uni- 

 versally separated, being all barren on one plant, and 

 fertile on another of the same species, without the slight- 

 est possible difference, in the characters or appearance 

 of the two individuals, in any other respect. Sometimes 

 indeed a barren Jloret or two occurs in a fertile catkin^ 

 especially among the monandrous species ; sometimes 

 catkins have been found nearly equally fertile and barren, 

 as in our n. 49, 50 and 51. In n. 52, S. oleifolia, Mr. 

 Borrer has, for several years, traced the progress of this 

 mutation in the organs of impregnation, which confirms 

 a I'eport, whose origin does not appear, of "Willows 

 changing the nature of their blossoms. This however is 

 treated as a fiction by Linnaeus, in his Gen. PI. 514, 

 without any assigned authority, and he proves mistaken. 



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