Pe aR A 
= ¢ aA: 
sinites. Young shoots and leaves often downy, when old usually 
glabrous. Leaves ovate-oblong or rarely lanceolate, usually 1 to 2 
inches long, and pointed, not wrinkled, but the veins rather prominent 
above, often toothed at the edge, and glaucous or whitish underneath, 
but not closely silky. Catkins more slender and less silky than in S. 
Caprea, the males nearly sessile, with a few broad, or sometimes leafy, 
bracts at the base; the females more stalked, with the bracts more 
leafy, usually under an inch long when in flower, 1 to 2 inches when 
in fruit. Capsules shortly stalked, glabrous or silky or cottony, 2 to 3 
lines long when ripe. 
In woods, thickets, and waste places, near streams, in northern and- 
Arctic Europe and Asia, and in the mountain districts of central and 
southern Europe. In Br itain, chiefly in northern England, in Scotland, 
and northern Ireland. Fl. spring and early summer. Among the numer- 
ous varieties published as species, often from specimens altered by 
cultivation, two are generally recognised as distinct types, S. nigricans, 
Sm., which turns black in drying and is usually larger, and S. phylici- 
folia, which preserves its colour better and has usually.a smaller and 
neater foliage. 
10. S. repens, Linn. (fig. 927). Creeping.—A low straggling shrub ; 
the stems creeping extensively underground and rooting at the base, 
ascending to the height of about a foot or more, erect and taller when 
cultivated in rich soils; the foliage and young shoots more or less 
densely silky-white. Leaves oblong or lanceolate, under an inch long, 
rarely shortly ovate, or in luxuriant shoots narrow-oblong, and 14 inches 
long, usually entire or nearly so, and silky on both sides. Catkins 
cylindrical, usually about 6 lines long, and sessile when in flower, with a 
few leafy bracts at the base; when in fruit the peduncle lengthens, and 
the catkin often attains an inch. Capsules pedicellate, usually silky, 
seldom 2 lines long. 
On heaths, moors, and sandy places, in Arctic, northern, and central 
Kurope, and Russian Asia, more rare in southern Europe. Common in 
Britain. Fl. spring. Varieties rather less creeping, with the leaves some- 
what wrinkled, and the white down rather more cottony, distinguished 
under the name of S. ambigua, Ehrh., showing in some respects a con- 
nection between S. aurita and S. repens, are asserted by German botanists 
to be accidental hybrids between those two species. 
11. S. lapponum, Linn. (fig. 928). Downy W.—A spreading, much 
branched shrub, usually low and scrubby, sometimes attaining 2 or 3 
feet or more in rich valleys. Leaves oblong or lanceolate, pointed, and 
entire, covered on both sides with a white cottony down, or, when old, 
becoming nearly glabrous above. Catkins closely sessile, with a few 
deciduous bracts at their base ; when in flower about an inch long, thick, 
with long dense silky hairs ; when in fruit lengthening to 13 or 2 inches. 
Capsules sessile, cottony, about 2 lines long. 
In mountains, pastures, and wet, bushy places, in northern ind Arctic: — 
Europe, and Asia, and in the mountains of central Europe. In Britain, 
only in the mountains of Scotland. Fl. summer. It varies much in sta- 
ture and the size of the leaves, but is always distinguished from S. repens 
by the stem not creeping underground, ‘and the much larger catkins, 
more like those of S. Caprea, and from the latter species by the entire 
leaves and sessile capsules. 
412 THE CATKIN FAMILY. 
