Salix 



1757 



Numerous forms of S. viridis^ occur, some being close to S. fragilis, others 

 nearer to S. alba ; and no exact definition of this hybrid is possible ; but it is easy to 

 recognise when S. alba, S. fragilis, and S. coerulea are excluded. According to 

 Buchanan White, S. viridis is widely distributed in Britain, occurring from Cornwall 

 and Surrey to Perth ; but it is less abundant and more local than the parents, 

 5. alba and S. fragilis. The second-class bat willow is often S. viridis. 



S. viridis doubtless grows to as large a size as either of the parents, with which 

 it is generally confused. The largest ^ we know are growing beside a stream at 

 Thornbury, Gloucestershire. One tree is 60 ft. high by 18 ft. in girth. Near it are 

 two trees growing from the same root, one of which is 65 ft. by 1 1 ft. 6 in. and the 

 other 60 ft. by 15 ft. 7 in., according to measurements which were kindly taken for 

 us by Mr. Samuel Fudge in July 191 2. 



4. Salix Russelliana, Smith, FL Brit. iii. 1045 (1804), Eng. Bot. t. 1808 (1808), 

 and Eng. Flora iv. 186 (1823); Forbes, Sal Woburn. 55, t. 28 (1829); Loudon, 

 Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 15 17, fig. 131 1 (1838). 



Salix fragilis, var. Russelliana, Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ. 643 (1837). 



A tree, remarkably vigorous in growth, with long, straight and slender branches, 

 not angular in their insertion like those of S. fragilis. Leaves in the young state 

 white and silky pubescent beneath ; when fully grown, lanceolate, acuminate, 

 3^ in. long, f in. wide, finely serrate, with scattered appressed hairs on the under 

 surface near the midrib. Pistillate trees only known, with flowers similar to 

 those of S. fragilis, having pedicellate ovaries and bipartite styles, but with looser 

 catkins. 



This seems, judging from the type specimens in Smith's herbarium at the 

 Linnean Society, to be a form of S. viridis, which is not clearly known to botanists ' 

 at the present time. The normal leaves are well figured by Loudon (fig. 131 1); 

 those depicted by Sowerby {Eng. Bot. t. 1808) from coppice shoots are larger than 

 the normal leaves, and have the glands on the petiole often developed into slender 

 leaflets. 



5. Russelliana was sent to Woburn about 1800 by Mr. Bakewell from Leicester- 

 shire, and was called the Dishley or Leicester Willow. It seems to have been 

 extraordinarily vigorous, as Lowe, Agric. Survey of Notts, p. 118, is quoted * for 

 the fact that " this willow in a plantation yielded at eight years' growth poles which 

 realised a net profit of .^214 per acre." It was also remarkable for the large per- 



1 Scaling mentions in his pamphlet, Salix or Willow, i. Cat. p. 8 (1871) and ii. 19 (1872) two willows, which he sent 

 out in 187 1 from his nursery at Basford, Notts :— (i) S. sanguinea, the branches of which were brilliant red in winter. This 

 was obtained by Scaling some years previously in the Ardennes, where it was known as the red willow. (2) 5. basfordiana, 

 with branches of a deep orange colour. This appeared as a seedling in the nursery, and grew with great vigour. 



Salter, in Card. Chron. xvii. 298, figs. 41, 42 (1882), apparently confused these two distinct trees, which he described 

 as S. basfordiana. There are two trees at Kew under this name— a male. No. 58, which is a form of S. viridis, and a female, 

 No. 80, which is identical with S. vitellina. Whether these correspond to Scaling's S. sanguinea and .S. basfordiana is 



uncertain. 



2 These trees have pubescent leaves, simulating those of S. alba, but larger and thinner. They also differ from the latter 



species in having distinctly pedicellate fruit. 



3 S. Russelliana has been misunderstood by most botanists since Smith's time. White's view that it was true S. fragilis, 

 while Smith's S. fragilis was S. viridis, is untenable. 



* Duke of Bedford, in Forbes, Sal. Woburn., p. v (1829). The frontispiece represents Johnson's Willow. 



p 

 VII ^ 



