The TOtJHO HAT6EAUST; 



A Monthly Magazine of Natural History. 



"~ - — v 'i,' 



Pakt 39. PEBEUASY, 1883. Vol. 4. 



WILLOWS 



fSalLxJ. 



By J. P. SouTTER, Bishop Auckland. 



IF there be one family of flowering 

 plants more than another which 

 is neglected or eschewed by botanists, 

 it is the willows. Of the ninety-five 

 species and varieties named in the 

 London Catalogue of British Plants, 

 probably no single botanical expert 

 would undertake to identify and name 

 the whole of them. And it would 

 possibly puzzle any average botanist, 

 to correctly name off-hand a tenth part 

 of the number taken at random. The 

 Philistines jeeringly say that all bota- 

 nists are less or more crack-brained, 

 but they are admittedly crazy who 

 make a special study of the willows. 

 They are decidedly enthusiasts, and are 

 generally very jealous of the merits of 

 their pet order. 



To the unbiassed student and lover 

 of nature, there is something bordering 

 on the ludicrous, to find a dubious 

 species split up into a dozen or fifteen 

 varieties ; and the endless synonyms 

 seem to lead to such inextricable con- 

 fusion, that the only feasible solution 



appears to be to dub every individual 

 tree and bush with a distinctive 

 apellative reserved to that particular 

 plant, and scarcely, if at all, transmit- 

 able to its progeny. The same remarks 

 are less or more applicable to several 

 other genera, such as the brambles, 

 roses, mints, &c., in which we find that 

 no two botanists who have studied these 

 families, are exactly agreed as to the 

 number of species or varieties. This 

 arises from the mutability of species, 

 the extreme naturalness of the classifi- 

 cation, involving the preponderance of 

 similar characteristics, with a great 

 tendency to trivial variation, and in 

 the willows at least, to the readiness 

 with which hybrids are produced. A 

 very small smattering of Botany will 

 enable any one to recognise a willow as 

 such, but considerable technical care 

 and skill is required to correctly iden- 

 tify even the commonest species. This 

 arises from the fact that in the majority 

 of cases, the flowers are produced in 

 early spring, long before the leaves 

 appear, and that both flowers and 

 mature leaves of the same plant, are 

 necessary for complete identification. 



