DESOKIPTIVB ENUMERATION OP TREES. 91 



The Withy, or Salixfragilis, is the most incon- 

 siderable of its tribe. Like others of its kindred, 

 it will grow in any soil, though it loves a moist 

 one. It is of little value in landscape, and. yet 

 there is something beautiful in its silver-coated 

 catkins, which open, as the year advances, into 

 elegant hanging tufts ; and when the tree is large 

 and in full bloom, make a beautiful variety among 

 the early productions of the spring. 



The art of multiplying species, by giving to plants which 

 slightly differ from each other distinct botanical names, 

 has become very much developed since Gilpin's time. 

 Even botanists in his day w^ere content to divide the 

 genus Salix into sixteen species. But now two hundred 

 varieties are named as existing in English collections, and 

 not less than seventy of these are said to be natives of 

 Britain ! Gilpin is content to describe three species. — Ed. 



Nearly related to the Willow tribe, though in 

 Nature rather than in form, is the Alder. They 

 both love a low moist soil, and frequently the banks 

 of rivers, though it may be alleged in favour of 

 both, that they will flourish in the poorest forest 

 swamps where nothing else will grow. The Alder 

 is, however, the more picturesque tree, both in its 



G 



