British Wild Flowers and Trees 261 



of the land, finer than any of which they are in 

 colour. 



The earliest flowering British Willow is what is 

 called the Goat Willow, or 'pussies' by the children 

 in spring. Next in importance is the Crack Willow 

 or withy, which also becomes a very fine handsome 

 tree nearly a hundred feet high, with a trunk some- 

 times twenty feet in girth, as in the specimen drawn by 

 Alfred Parsons and engraved herein. There is a variety 

 with the twigs orange or crimson in colour. The 

 Bedford Willow also is a handsome tree and is sup- 

 posed to be a hybrid between the White and the Crack 

 Willow. The Goat Willow is not so handsome a tree 

 as the others though precious for its beauty, but in 

 almost every woodland district so common that there 

 is no need to plant it. The Violet Willow is the next 

 to claim our attention, being a graceful tree with violet 

 shoots, very free and with a pretty grey bloom upon 

 the leaves. Then we have the common Osier with 

 its long wavy leaves silvery beneath — this willow is 

 very common in wet places and in osier beds ; it does 

 not give us such beautiful trees as the White Willow 

 in its various forms. Of the osier there are numerous 

 varieties ; and, lastly, we have the purple Osier, which 

 is not quite a tree but a shrub attaining ten feet or 

 so, with the advantage of being so bitter that rabbits 

 will not eat it. Of this, as of all the others, there 

 are various forms. 



Although from a landscape point of view the best 



