234 ; ENGLISH BOTANY. 
densely pilose. Stamens 2; filaments free, glabrous. Capsule subulate- 
conical, grey, silky-tomentose, on a stalk four to eight times as long 
as the nectary; style scarcely any; stigmas short, ovate, entire, or 
9-cleft. Branches of the year finely pubescent, buds glabrous or sub- 
glabrous ; leaves softly pubescent on both sides when young. 
Var. a, genuina. 
*taTE MCCCXXXI. 
S. Caprea, Sm. Engl. Bot. ed. i. No. 1488, Engl. Fl. Vol. IV. p. 225. 
Leaves undulated and crenate-serrate. Stipules conspicuous. 
Var. B, sphacelata. 
Prats MCCCXXXII. 
S. sphacelata, Sm. Engl. Bot. ed. i. No. 2333, Engl. Fl. Vol. IV. p. 224. 
S. Silesiaca, Willd. var. 2 (?). Wimm. Sal. Europ. p. 62. 
«“ Leaves entire” (Smith), discoloured at the point. Stipules often 
absent. Whole plant much smaller than in var. «. 
In woods, pastures, hedgerows, &c. Very common, and generally 
distributed. Var. 6 at Fionlarig, near head of Loch Tay, Perthshire, 
(Rey. Dr. Stewart); and in valleys among the Highlands of Scotland 
(Lightfoot). 
England, Scotland, Ireland. Tree or shrub. Early Spring. 
A tree, when left to itself, attaining the height of 20 to 30 feet, with 
the leaves, when full-grown, 2 to 5 inches long, less narrowed towards 
the base than in S. cinerea or S. aurita, more softly downy on both 
sides when young, and permanently so beneath, and the pubescence 
beneath has a greater tendency to become slightly silky than in the two 
preceding. Male catkins 1 to 14 inch long, thicker than in any of 
the preceding species. Female at first about the size of the male, but 
at length attaining to 1) to3 inches. Capsules about 4 inch long. 
Catkin-scales fuscous at the apex as in the other species in this section. 
This is one of the earliest flowering of the genus. Some of the forms 
approximate closely to those of S. cinerea, but that is a smaller shrub, 
with more rigid leaves, which are more attenuated at the base, duller 
green above, and with the veins more prominent beneath, and often 
dull orange. In S. cinerea the catkins are smaller; the anthers deeper 
yellow; the capsules smaller and more acute, and the young branches 
and even the buds more pubescent, the latter shorter. 
S. aurita differs from S. caprea in its more ovate and rugose leaves, 
and much smaller catkins and capsules, which are always nearly white, 
not grey. 
Specimens of S. spacelata show it to be only a small state of Ss. 
— 2 
