FOR VICTORIAN INDUSTRIAL CULTURE. 



211 



Sagittaria lancifolia, Linne. 



From Virginia to the Antilles. This very handsome aquatic- 

 plant can doubtless be utilised like the following species. It 

 attains a height of five feet. 



Sagittaria obtusa, Muehlenberg. {S. latifolia, Willdenow). 

 North America, where it replaces the closely-allied S. 

 sagittifolia. A few other conspicuous species are worthy of 

 introduction. 



Sagittaria sagittifolia, Linne. 



Europe, North and Middle Asia, east to Japan. One of the 

 most showy of all hardy water-plants ; still not alone on that 

 account deserving naturalisation, but also because its root is 

 edible. If once established this plant maintains its ground well, 

 and might occupy spots neither arable nor otherwise utilised. 



Salix alba, Linne. 



The Huntingdon or Silky "Willow of Europe, originally pro- 

 bably from Middle Asia. Available for wet places not 

 otherwise utilised. Height eighty feet, circumference of stem 

 twenty feet; wood light and elastic, available for carpenter's 

 work and implements, bark for tanning. The Golden Osier, 

 Salix vitellina (L.) is a variety. The shoots are used for 

 hoops and wickerwork. With other large Willows and 

 Poplars one of the best scavengers for back yards, where 

 drainage cannot readily be applied; highly valuable also for 

 forming lines along narrow watercourses or valleys in forests, 

 to stay bush-fires. The charcoal excellent for gunpowder. 

 The wood in demand for matches. 



Salix Babylonica, Tournefort. 



The Weeping Willow, indigenous in West Asia as far as 

 Japan, sparingly wild, according to Stewart, in the 

 Himalayas, probably also in Persia, Kurdistan and China. 

 One of the most grateful of all trees for the facility of its 

 culture, rapidity of growth, and fitness for embellishments, 

 also as one of the quickest growing and most easily reared 

 of all shade-trees. Dr. C. Koch distinguishes another 

 Weeping Willow as S. elegantis sima from Japan. 

 Important for consolidating river-banks. 



Salix Capensis, Thunberg. {S. Gariepina, Burchell.) 



South Africa. This Willow might be introduced on account 

 of its resemblance to the ordinary Weeping Willow. S. 

 daphnoides (YiH.) of Europe and Asia, S. petiolaris (Smith), 

 S. cordata (Muehlenb.), S. tristis (Ait.), of North America, 

 are among the best for binding sand. S. longifolia 

 (Muehlenb.), also North American, is among those which 

 form long flexible withes. 



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