TREE fOEMS. 53 



and the fine depending branches and spray, that 

 gives so peculiarly graceful a character to the latter. 

 The bark of the trunk and limbs is seamed and 

 scarred in fine old specimens, and is green with the 

 incrustation of lichen, whilst the bark of the boughs 

 and spray is smooth, shining, and olive-green in 

 colour. It is the wide angles at which the ramifica- 

 tion is produced that gives its spreading habit to 

 the tree. Yery much the same in general character, 

 with the exception of the pendulous habit, is the 

 ordinary Willow ; but in its case, when it grows 

 close to the water's edge, as in the specimen 

 drawn in the engraving on page 52, there is 

 more or less of drooping in its habit, especially 

 when, as is frequently the case, the trunk leans 

 over the stream or lake by which it is situated. 

 Then there is a general inclination towards the 

 water of trunk, limbs, boughs, and spray. This 

 position is doubtless often caused by the softening 

 of the earthy habitat on the side next the water, 

 through the washing of the stream or the motion 

 of it by the agency of wind — if the water be a 

 lake. Less support to the trunk being furnished 

 on that particular side, the weight of the tree, 



