Salix.'\ 



LXXXV. SALICACE^. 



S91 



Wet meadows and moist grounds by water, frequent. \i . 

 A well-known tree, whose wood is employed for various purposes 

 and is particularly valuable for the piles of bridges, as it remains un- 

 decayed under water for a considerable length of time; thus the 

 celebrated and ancient bridge called the Rialto, at Venice, is built on 

 Alder piles, and so are many large edifices at Amsterdam, The lark 

 and haves are employed in dyeing and tanning leather ; the former 

 for staining sahots or wooden shoes (which are also made of the tree) 

 and iishermen*s nets, its astringent quality strongly recommending 

 it for the latter purpose. Sterile catkins long, large, and cylindrical, 

 pendent, H^qiy footstalks branched. Fertile catkins small, ovate, with 

 deep-red scales. 



t 



i: 





IX 



I,., 





Ord. LXXXV. SALICACEiE Tdch. 



Flowers dioecious, all amentaceous. 



/?. Perianth 



(replaced by 1—2 nectariferous gland), or oblique and entire. 

 Stamens 2—30 : anthers 2-celled. Fe?^tile fl. Perianth or 

 turbinate. Ovary free, 1 -celled, with numerous erect ovules 

 attached to the bottom of the cell or to the base of 2 parietal 

 placentas. Style 1 or 0. Stigmas 2, entire or cleft. Fruit 

 leathery, 1-celled (or by the Inflexion of the edges of the valves 

 somewhat 2-celled), 2-valved, many seeded. Seeds erect, mi- 

 nute, covered with long silky hairs springing from their base. 

 Albumen 0, Emh^yo erect; radicle inferior. — Trees or shrubs. 

 Leaves alternate^ simjjle^ with often glands on their edge or on 

 the petiole. Stipules deciduous or persistent^ sometimes none. 



F 



Salix. Scales of the catkins entire, with 1—2 nectariferous scales, 



and no perianth. Stam, 1 — o. 

 PoPULUS. Scales of the catkins usually jagged, without nectariferous 

 glands. Perianth cup -shaped containing the stam, and pist. 

 Stamens 4 — 30. 



1. 

 2. 



1 Salix Linn. Willow. Sallow. Osier. 



Scales of the catkins quite entire. Perianth 0, except 1—2 

 unilateral nectariferous ^fo?z& between the stamens or pistil and 

 the X2i(i\i\^.— Barren fl. Stam. 1 (of 2 combined) or 2—5 

 — Fertile fl. Stigmas 2, entire or cloven into two. Caps. 

 l"Celled. — Named, according to Theis, from sal^ near, and lis, 

 ivater, in Celtic ; but the AVelsh and Celtic name of the tree is 

 helig, the Cornish one helak, and the Gaelic and Irish seileach, 

 from any of which Salix is rather derivable. 



The many important uses rendered by the different species of 

 Willow and Osier, serve to rank them among the first in our list of 

 economical plants. The larger kinds, which are, too, of the most 

 rapid growth, yield timber and exceed 60 feet in height; whilst the 

 least of them, which grows on the summits of our Highland moun- 



% i 



