408 THE CATKIN FAMILY. [ Quercus. 
which is nevertheless the result of a close investigation, carried on for 
many years in various parts of Europe. The following are the two British 
races :— 
a. Q. pedunculata, Ehrh. Leaves sessile or shortly stalked. Fruits 
either clustered or spiked, above the middle of a peduncle 1 to 6 inches 
long. The commonest Oak over the greater part of England, Ireland, and 
the lowlands of Scotland. In the hilly parts of the west and north it is 
less abundant and less constant in its characters, and sometimes absent. - 
b. Q. sessiliflora, Salisb. Leaves on footstalks 3 to 1 inch long. Fruits 
solitary or clustered, either closely sessile on the branch or borne on a 
short peduncle an inch long. Frequently scattered in woods of the 
pedunculate variety, and then pretty constant in its characters, rarely 
constituting the mass of oak-woods in the lower parts of Britain, but in 
North Wales and the hilly parts of northern England it is the com- 
pate is the two, and much most variable; in Ireland said to be rare 
and local. : 
VIII. SALIX. WILLOW. 
Leaves variable, but not triangular nor rhomboidal. Stipules often very 
conspicuous, but sometimes small or deficient on other branches of the same 
plant. Flowers dicecious, in cylindrical, usually silky-hairy catkins, with 
small, entire scales. Stamens in the males 2, rarely 3, 5, or even more, or 
united into one, with slender filaments, and small anthers, and a gland-like 
scale either between the stamens and the axis, or more rarely between the 
stamens and the catkin-scale, or two scales, one on each side, but no 
perianth. Female flowers solitary within each scale, with a gland-like 
inner scale between the ovary and the axis. Ovary conical, sessile or 
stalked, one-celled, with several ovules inserted on 2 short parietal pla- 
centas. Style forked, each lobe entire or shortly 2-lobed. Fruit a conical 
capsule, opening in 2 valves. Seeds several, minute, with a tuft of long, 
white, silky hairs. 
A vast genus, widely spread over the world, but particularly abundant 
in the northern hemisphere, from the tropics to the Arctic zone, ascending 
high upon alpine summits, and in low countries chiefly inhabiting wet or 
sandy situations. The great variations in the shape of the leaves of many 
species, and the difficulty of matching the male and female specimens, or 
the young and old leaves of those species which flower before the leaves are 
out, have produced a multiplication of supposed species, anda confusion 
amongst them, beyond all precedent. Kighteen of these are enumerated 
in the student’s British Flora, thirty in Babington’s Manual ; the following 
fifteen are however all that appear to me to be truly distinct among the 
British ones; at the same time, reliable observations are wanting on the 
variation of particular characters, especially amongst the mountain species, 
and intermediate forms between very dissimilar species are not unfrequent 
in herbaria. These are in some cases taken from trees or shrubs much 
altered by cultivation, others have been proved to be natural hybrids ; in 
neither case can they be considered as botanical species. 
Male catkins sessile. Females sessile or on very short peduncles, 
with or without leafy bracts. 
Stamen 1 within each scale, entire or forked. Leaves narrow, 
glabrous or whitish underneath, Anthers usually purple, 5. S, purpurea, 
