VI. 2. THE VARNISHED WILLOW. 265 
This willow, a native of Britain, has been introduced and 
somewhat extensively propagated in this vicinity. Some of the 
largest willows near Boston, particularly those on Willow Street, 
in Dorchester, are of this species. I find some of the leaves at 
the base of the aments and on the accompanying branchlets, 
perfectly entire. ‘This seems, also, to be the case with those 
figured in Eng. Bot., 1807. 
The four large willows above referred to, were measured, in 
1839, and gave, at three feet from the ground, the following di- 
mensions in girth:—the Ist, fifteen feet six inches; 2d, fifteen 
feet seven inches; 3d, fifteen feet eight inches; and the Ath, 
eighteen feet four inches at four feet, and twenty-one feet six 
inches at one foot from the ground. 'The first three were thought 
to be fifty years old, the fourth sixty or more. This last is a 
fine tree. It continues to enlarge to the height of nine or ten 
feet, where it throws out four large branches. Several smaller 
ones have been broken off by the wind. 
Sp. 10. Tse Varnispep Wittow. SS. decipiens. Hoffman. 
Introduced. 
Figured in Sowerby’s English Botany, Plate 1937. 
Leaves lanceolate, pointed, serrate, very smooth; floral ones partly obovate 
and re-curved; footstalks somewhat glandular; stipules half-ovate, acute, 
toothed, small, often wanting; ovaries tapering, stalked, smooth ; style longer 
than the cloven stigmas; branches smooth, highly polished —/J. £. Smuth, 
Eng. Fl., IV, 183. Hooker’s Eng. Bot., 417; Loudon, Arb., 1515. 
“This forms a small tree of handsome growth, flowering in 
May. It is readily known by the very smooth bark of the last 
year's shoots, which is of a light reddish brown, or clay color, 
appearing as if varnished. ‘The young twigs are often beauti- 
fully stained with crimson. Leaves very much akin to those 
of the Bedford willow, but mostly smaller.”—Smith, in Eng., 
Bot. 1937. 
‘The varnished or porcelain appearance of the branches, not 
conspicuous at other seasons, makes this willow easy to be dis- 
tinguished in winter and early spring. It has been extensively 
propagated in the neighborhood of Boston, and may be seen in 
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