454 AMENTACE^. [SaltX. 



and main limbs. Leaves larger than in our other elms and less firm in texture, 

 obovato-cuspidale, those of the young wood tiiciispidate, doubly and coarsely ser- 

 rated, mostly very unequal at the base, 3 or 4 inches lon^, strongly leined, rou);h 

 on the up|ier side with short stiff hairs, softer and more downy beneath, must so 

 about the ribs. Flowers shortly pedicellate, in small roundish tufts, larger, less 

 crowded and paler purple than in U. suberosa, but, as in all our other elms, the 

 uppermost branches are most thickly beset with blossoms. Bracts mostly 2 at the 

 base of the flower-stalks, narrow, fringed and membranous. Perianth very 

 rugose, its segments slightly hairy, mostly 5, often 6 or even 7, obtuse, erect or 

 connivent, brijjht light purple or almost rose-colour. Stamens 5 — 7, much longer 

 than the perianth, erect, with pale rosy filaments and dark purple anthers ; pollen 

 pale yellow ; stiginas 2, bright purple, spreading and very hairy. Samam in large 

 clusters, like hops in colour and general appearance, nearly an inch in length, 

 obovale, quite glabrous, cloven to a very short distance from the exterior margin, 

 not ciliated along the edges. 



The wood of this species is of very inferior quality to that of U. suberosa and its 

 varieties. 



A remarkable fact in the natural history of the Elm is the occasional irregula- 

 rity of its flowering. In 1832 scarcely a single tree was to be seen in blos.som, 

 during the spring of that year, either of U. suberosa or U. moniana, both in this 

 island and elsewhere, though in the previous season the branches were loaded 

 with flowers, as they were again in 1840 and 1841. 



The largest Wych Elm in Quarr copse, standing amidst many free fiowerers of 

 its species, has never shown any disposition to blossom, though perfectly sound 

 and healthy. 



Order LXX. AMENTACEiE, Lindl. 



" Habitarunt di quoque sylvas, 



* ***** 



nobis placeant ante omnia sylvas." 



Virg. Eel. ii. 



" Floivers monoecious or dioecious, rarely perfect. — Barren 

 flowers capitate or in catkins ; sometimes with a membra- 

 nous perianth. — Fertile fl,oivers clustered, solitary, or in cat- 

 kins. Ovary usually simple. Stigmas one or more. Fruit as 

 many as the ovaries, bony or membranaceous. Albumen usually 

 wanting. Embryo straight or curved, plain. Radicle mostly 

 superior. Young leaves with stijndes." — Lind. Syn. 



Tribe I. Salicine^, Lindl. 



" Flowers all in catkins. Fruit naked, two-valved, 1-celled, 

 many-seeded. Seeds erect, comose."" — Lind. Syn. 



I. Salix, Linn. Willow. 



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

 unilateral nectariferous glands between the stamens or pistil and 

 the rachis. — Barren flowers : — Stamen 1 (of 2 combined) or 2 — 5. 

 ^Fertile flowers : — Stigmas 3, entire or cloven into 2. Capside 

 1-celled."— Br. Fl. 



