THE GOAT WILLOW 



(OR SALLOW). 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



HE buds which contain the promise of seasons to come 

 are in all cases carefully protected against the severity 

 of the winter weather, whether by leaf-stalks, or stipules, 

 or by the withered leaves of the past season. There is 

 great diversity in the form, texture, and arrangement of the bud- 

 scales themselves. On some trees they are woolly, on others gummy 

 or resinous. In some species they are numerous and arranged in 

 spirals, as in the Scotch Fir ; in others they are found in rows, few 

 or manv, overlapping one another, like roof-tiles reversed, from the 

 tip to the base. The bud of the Beech has four such rows, the 

 Elm two, the White Beam five. The casing of the Willow-bud 

 consists of a single scale, and this, in the winter, makes a point of 

 distinction between certain of the Willows and the Poplar tribe, 

 which are closely allied. The bud-scales of the Poplar are numerous, 

 usually coated with gum and arranged in a spiral. Poplars, more- 

 over, usually have true terminal buds, while the growth of a Willow 

 is continued from a lateral bud. The bud-covering of the Goat 

 Willow consists of a single cap, with a projecting rib on either side, 

 marking it off into two sections. In spring time the cap splits from 

 the tip downwards along the centre of each section. 



The Goat Willow is a small tree or shrub. It is useful in 

 the hedgerow, as it bears cutting well, and will often produce shoots 

 to the length of eight or ten feet in a year. Like those of other 

 Willows, its branches easily root themselves, and in the autumn arc 

 often cut and planted to bind the hanks of streams. 



