464 OUR WOODLAND TREES. 
this genus into its abnormally large number of 
species. Our task therefore will be limited to 
some brief description, not of the two hundred 
varieties of Willow said to exist in English 
collections, or of the smaller number of seventy 
affirmed to be natives of Britain, but of two of the 
most familiar of British Willows, Salix alba and 
Salix babylonica. 
The Common White Willow attams a height 
varying from fifty to eighty feet, according to 
soil and other conditions of growth. It grows 
rapidly and luxuriantly, reaching a height some- 
times of eighty feet in twenty years, or growing 
at the average rate of four feet each year. In- 
deed, during the first half of this period the rate 
of growth is much more rapid, and Trees of this 
species have been known to attain a height of 
sixty feet in ten years when in suitable soil, and 
within reach of that in which Willows in general 
delight—namely, water. 
Smoothness and flexibility of their branches are 
the peculiar characteristics of Willows, and hence 
their extensive use in basket manufacture, and 
for a multiplicity of other purposes. The leaves 
