SOME SCOTTISH WILLOWS. 365 



specimens; a feature which is no doubt due to the influence of 

 8. reticulata, whose nectaries Wiminer describes as " plerumque 

 bina," and Audersson as " urceoli laciniati iustar." _ The peduncle 

 bears two or three leaves, a bud occupying the highest axil and 

 developing a summer shoot (in garden). 8. reticulata has this bud 

 at the base of the peduncle, but usually it does not develop into a 

 shoot till the following year (see E. B., 3rd ed.). 



S. herbacea x Myrsinites [S. Myrsinites-herbacea And3. : S. Sow- 



meifeltii Ands.).— A male plant from Little Craigindal, S. Aberdeen, 

 found in 1889; in cultivation at Shirley. Our plant is not so 

 broad-leaved as Andersson describes bis two forms, the leaf being 

 obovate, with a very short acute point, and not cordate, but in 

 other respects the foliage does not vary much from his description. 

 Leaves finely serrate, with reticulation on both sides markedly 

 raised, softly hairy at first on both sides, but quickly glabrescent ; 

 paler green beneath thau above; young twigs clothed with dark 

 curled pubescence. Andersson only describes the fruit (female) 

 catkin; we cannot therefore compare ours with his. While the 

 leaves of our plant borrow wholesale from S. Myrowfcw, the catkins 

 take as much from 8. herbacea. These are £-f in. long, on slender 

 silky peduncles with two or three small silky-fringed leaves ; scales 

 yellowish below, tipped with purple, obovate, subglabrous ; anthers 

 yellow, purplish upward. This colouring, and the size of the cat- 

 kins, and the shape and reticulation of the young leaves, are the 

 chief signs of S. Myrsinites in the flowering condition. We believe 

 that the hybrid is new to Britain, though known for Lapland and 

 Norway. , . 



8. herbacea x reticulata (S. onychiophylla Anas.).— Our gathering 

 of this beautiful little plant in 1889 appears to be the first finding 

 of it for Britain. Nyman gives it for Norway and Lapland. We 

 have already published a note in this volume (p. 119) on a Perth- 

 shire plant discovered by one of us on Meall-na-baone in 1891, 

 which we believe to be this hybrid. We now give some account of 

 the first found plant which comes from Glen Fiagh, Forfar. Stems 

 prostrate, pubescent at first, glabrescent ; leaves orbicular, mostly 

 truncate at the base, the uppermost subcordate, obscurely crenate, 

 some crenations having a glandular point at their upper extremity, 

 dark green and slightly rugose, but becoming nearly flat, and 

 showing the raised veining of S. herbacea on the upper surface, 

 rather glaucous or glaucous green beneath, and strongly reticulate ; 

 margin recurved, markedly so towards the base, very thinly hairy 

 or rather subglabrous on both surfaces ; petiole between one-half and 

 one-third the length of the blade ; buds in the late summer large 

 for the plant, oblong or narrow-ovate, pale yellow-green, glabrous 

 or with a few deciduous hairs at first ; scale of the bud persistent 

 after the bud has become a shoot (amplexicaul in the case of a 

 summer shoot). This last point and the character of the buds are 

 convincing proofs of the presence of S. reticulata in this willow ; the 

 leaves also show it, but testify in their shape, texture and veining 

 to the influential presence of S. herbacea. The Perthshire plant 

 above referred to has its leaves finely crenate-serrate, S. herbacea 



