Sdlix] 



CVIII. SALICACE^ 



639^ 



Persia and the Caucasus. A shrub or small tree, branchlets glabrous. L. very 

 narrowly linear, rigid 1-3 in. long. PI. after the 1. 6 catkins 4? ? i"^ i^- long, 

 bracts glabrous, capsule sessile, silky. 31. S. divergens, And. Kishtwar. Baltistan. 

 Zanskar, 12-15,000 ft. A small, much-branched shrub, 1. oblong or obovate-obJong, 

 ^-| in. long. Catkins, S J-J in. long, ? longer, capsules densely silky. 



2. POPULUS, Linn. ; M. Brit. Ind. v. 637. 



Leaves as a rule broad, petioles generally exceeding one-fourth the length 

 of blade. Bracts of catkins caducous, crenate or lobed. Stamens 4-30^ 

 inserted on the cup-shaped oblique disk, filaments generally less than twice 

 the length of anthers. Capsule usually supported by the flat membranoxis 

 circular or lobed disk, 2-4-valved, the valves spreading, a placenta along the- 

 median line of each valve. Species 18, northern temperate regions. 



A. Leaves more or less lobed, buds pubescent, not viscid. 



1. P. euphratica, Olivier, Brandis F. M. t. 63. Vern. Padar, Bal. ; 

 BaJiaUj Sind ; JBhan^ Safedar, Punj. 



A middle-sized, usually gregarious tree, extremities sometimes hoary, buds- 



Pig. 198. Populus euphratica, Olivier. J. 



slightly pubescent, not viscid. L. most variable in shape, those of seedlings^ 

 young trees, pollard- and coppice-shoots linear, short petiolate, 3-6 in. long, 

 those of older trees on branches with short internodes, as a rule broad-ovate, 

 rhomboid or cordate, blade 2-3, pet. 1-2 in. The broader 1. are dentate, cut 

 or lobed, while the narrow 1. are generally entire. Intermediate forms frequent 

 on the same tree and on the same branch. £ bracts oblanceolate, disk flat^ 

 8-cleft, on a long slender stalk, stamens 8-12. Capsule lanceolate, 3-valved, 

 |-| in., on a long slender pedicel. 



Common in the forest belt of Sind along the Indus, particularly in upper and middle 

 Sind, where it forms standards over the underwood of Tamarisk. Not uncommon in 

 the valleys of Baluchistan and the Suliman range on small feeders of the Indus, up to 

 3,000 ft., also here and there on the main river below Attock. On the lower course of 

 the Sutlej river. Nubra along the Shayok river 10,000-13,500 ft., forming pure woods, 

 often of considerable extent. PL Pebr., nearly leafless Jan. to March. Coppices 

 vigorously and throws up abundant root-suckers. "Where subject to inundation the 



