1009 



K\yz Ereas'urg nt 350tang. 



SALM 



to the presence of salicine. The leaves are 

 undivided, either notched at the edges or 

 even, stalked, often furnished with sti- 

 pules, smooth silky downy or even cot- 

 tony, and varying in shape from linear to 

 round— some modification of the ellipse 

 beiug, however, by far the commonest 

 form. 



The wood is soft smooth and light, and 

 is applied to a great variety of purposes, 

 especially for building fast-sailing sloops of 

 war, and for making cricket-bats. Split into 

 thin strips it is manufactured into hats. 

 The twigs have from the earliest antiquity 

 been employed in basket-work, and in 

 Pliny's time (as they are indeed at present 

 in the northern countries of Europe) were 

 twisted into ropes. The leaves of several 

 species are on the Continent used as fodder 

 for cattle, being collected in summer, and 

 stacked for winter consumption. In Swe- 

 den and Norway the bark is kiln-dried in 

 seasons of scarcity, and is mixed with oat- 

 meal. 



Among the willows most worthy of notice 

 is the Huntingdon or White Willow, S. 

 alba, so called from the silky whiteness of 

 j the underside of the leaf ; it grows rapidly, 

 ' attains a large size, and is one of the most 

 useful of the family as a timber-tree. The 

 ! Bedford Willow, S. Russelliana, also at- 

 , tains a large size ; its leaves are in shape 

 very like those of the white willow, but 

 differ in being larger and smooth on both 

 i sides. The timber is even more useful 

 than that of the last, and the bark contains 

 ' more tannin than the oak ; it is in this 

 ! species also that salicine is most abundant. 

 ! The Crack Willow, S.fragilis, derives its 

 ; name from the brittleness of the branches, 

 ; which start from the trunk under the 

 ; slightest blow. S. babi/lonica, the Weep- 

 ing Willow, grows wild on the banks of 

 the Euphrates and in other parts of Asia, 

 and also in North America. In China it is 

 : a favourite tree, as appears from its fre- 

 , quent occurrence in drawings of Chinese 

 ornamental scenery. The Goat Willow, 

 S. Caprea (the badge of the Cummings), is 

 the common hedge-willow, marked by its 

 purplish-brown branches, which are cover- 

 : ed with minute down when young ; and by 

 | its large broad leaves, which are wavy at 

 ; the edge, and densely clothed beneath with 

 soft white cottony down. 



The species used for basket-making are 

 usually called 09iers. Several kinds are 

 in common cultivation, all agreeing in 

 bearing long flexible tough shoots, and 

 narrow pointed leaves. The species best 

 adapted for wickerwork are S. viminalis 

 and S. triandra. Large quantities of osiers 

 are now imported from Holland. S. pen- 

 tandra, common in the North of England 

 and Ireland, is remarkable for its large 

 glossy leaves, more like those of the Por- 

 tugal laurel than of the other willows; 

 the foliage of this shrub is fragrant. The 

 little willow which in some districts is so 

 abundant on commons, trailing its wiry 

 branches along the ground, is S. fusca. 

 S. herbacea, the least of British tree3, rarely 

 exceeds the height of four inches. It is a 



native of many parts of Europe and North 

 America, and in Great Britain is the last 

 plant furnished with a woody stem which 

 we meet with in ascending the mountains. 

 French: Saule; German: Weide. [C.A.J.] 

 The medicinal properties of the Willow 

 are common to all the species in greater or 

 less degree. The bark is the part usually 

 employed, especially that of S. Pcusselliana, 

 S. alba, S. Caprea, and S. fragilis. It is 

 valued for its tonic and astringent pro- 

 perties, and is used for the same purposes 

 as cinchona-bark. The active properties 

 depend upon the presence of an alkaloid 

 called salicine, which is employed in ague, 

 &c. in place of quinine. In case of a 

 scarcity of the latter drug salicine might 

 advantageously be used as -a substitute, 

 though it is scarcely so potent. S.pentan- 

 dra, in addition to the bitter tonic prin- 

 ciple, has slight aromatic properties. The 

 sweet-scented male catkins of S. agyptiaca 

 ! are used in the preparation of Kalaf, a 

 I liquid which is used in the East as a 

 stimulant and carminative. S. chilensis is 

 j said to furnish a kind of manna in Chili. 

 j A decoction of the roots of S. nigra, a 

 j North American species, is considered as 

 purgative and febrifugal. [M. T. M.] 



SALLOW. A name for Salix cinerea, S. 

 i Caprea, and the allied species, which are 

 ; not flexible like the osier, but furnish the 

 ! best charcoal for gunpowder. S. Caprea is 

 j called the Great Sallow. 



j SALMALIA. A genus of Sterculiacem, 

 l the two species of which were formerly 

 | included in Bombax, from which they are 

 I distinguished by their bell-shaped calyx 

 being divided into three or five unequal 

 blunt lobes ; by their egg-shaped more 

 erect petals ; by the tube of the stamens 

 being inflated or bulged out, and composed 

 I of numerous filaments in several series — 

 the filaments being either simple or two- 

 forked at the top, and the outer ones bear- 

 I ing one and the inner two anthers ; and by 

 I the stigma being divided into five sharp- 

 I pointed spreading lobes. Both species are 

 i large trees, natives of tropical Asia, and 

 | have large hand-shaped leaves composed 

 of from five to nine leaflets, and large red 

 flowers either solitary or several together 

 j on the naked branches. Their fruits re- 

 | semble those of Bombax, and are filled 



with seeds enveloped in silky cotton. 

 I S. malabarica (alias Bombax malabarica), 

 j the Simool-tree of India, or Malabar Silk- 

 cotton tree, attains a height of seventy or 

 ! eighty feet, and has a prickly trunk and 

 j branches, leaves composed of five to seven 

 i leaflets, and clusters of flowers. The silk- 

 j cotton of the Simool, though very beauti- 

 I ful, is, like other silk-cottons, not adapted 

 for spinning. It is chiefly used for stuffing 

 cushions, and a kind of quilt or thick 

 cloth is manufactured from it in Assam. 

 The trunk yields a very "pure gum and 

 light porous wood, and its bark possesses 

 emetic properties. .S'. insigne is distin- 

 guished from the last by its trunk and 

 branches being unarmed, by its leaves 

 being composed of nine leaflets, and by its 



