332 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [ocTOBER 
mixed with minute fulvous hairs, by the rather long pedicel of the 
young ovaries which is about twice as long as the gland, and by 
the absence of a dorsal gland in the male flowers. At present | am 
unable to determine this plant correctly, as we do not know much 
of the Salix of the regions where DrumMMonpD’‘ collected. 
ANDERSSON first mentioned S. desertorum quasi as a subspecies 
of S. glauca, and he said: “‘Insignis sane est forma, in orbe vetere 
quantum scio, non crescens. ... Transitus vero ad normalem 
S. glaucam non nunquam reperti; videtur itaque hujus modificatio 
frigida.”’ In 1868 he kept S. desertorum as a species, and added the 
following varieties: a, elata, 8, stricta, and y, fruticulosa. The last 
two are, in my opinion, nothing but S. brachycarpa Nutt. The first — 
is based on specimens collected by DRuMMonD in the Rockies, but 
no number is given. It is described as “‘frutex 4—-5-pedalis, ramis 
subsimplicibus crassis rufescentibus, foliis basi subangustatis supra 
glabris venis modice impressis subtus demum_ glabrescentibus 
amentis semipollicem longis.” This description rather fits the 
male pieces of DRuMMOND’s no. 660 in herb. G., while the female 
piece of this number can hardly be distinguished from S. brachy- 
carpa. This male no. 660 is the only one of DRUMMOND’S specimens 
I have seen that may belong to the true desertorum. This seems to 
be a species confined to the northern parts of Alberta and the North- 
west Territories, but the young types are not sufficient to give a 
correct idea of the species. There is another specimen, however, 
preserved in the Torrey herbarium at New York and labeled ‘‘Salix 
desertorum Fl. Bor. Am.” It consists of 4 pieces; a fruiting 
branchlet in the upper left corner of the sheet, a female one under- 
neath it, and 2 male pieces at the right hand. The fruiting branch- 
let is undoubtedly S. brachycarpa, while the male and female 
material may be identical with the true S. desertorum. The male 
branchlet seems to represent a late flowering stage, and it bears 
* According to J. Macoun (Cat. Can. Pl. I. preface p. viii. 1883), DrumMOND 
“explored the whole country from the Red and een Rivers by the North Sas- 
katchewan and Athabasca to the Rocky Mountains.” He also “collected in the 
main range of the Rocky Mountains, between lat. oe and particularly in the part 
about the head of the Smoky River, a tributary of the Peace.” Dr. J. M. MAcouN 
is spending the summer of this year in these regions and will probably bring back many 
of the forms collected by Drummonp from their original localities. 
