THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



51 



upturned by the breeze. The long slen- 

 der catkins also appear simultaneous- 

 ly -with the leaves ; it is very common 

 by stream sides, often by lonely desolate 

 reaches, and is frequently associated 

 with the idea of desertion and woe, as 

 in poor Ophelia's mournful end : — 

 " There is a willow grows ascaunt the brook, 



That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy 



stream ;] 



There with fantastic garlands did she wake." 

 V • Much less frequent is the bay willow 

 {S. pentandra) another well marked 

 species, which grows to be a small 

 tree. The staminate flower has five 

 stamens, the catkin appearing very 

 late in May or June, along with the 

 leaves, which whilst young have a 

 delicious fragrance when bruised. 

 Everyone is acquainted with the remark- 

 able toughness, and pliability of the 

 young twigs of the willow, and its 

 commercial importance, from its vari- 

 ous uses in basket making &c. 

 Numerous species are used for these 

 purposes, and their easiness of culture 

 renders them valuable in otherwise 

 waste grounds. The bark of the young 

 shoots are often beautifully polished 

 and coloured — olive green — yellow — 

 purple — crimson, &c. The slender i 

 pliant branches have often a very 

 graceful drooping appearance. So, 

 justly admired is the weeping willow 

 (^. bahylonica), which is popularly 

 supposed to be the tree on which the 

 Israelites hanged their harps by the 

 rivers of Babylon, although this is 



more than doubtful, it being essentially 

 a mountainous rather than an aquatic 

 species. We are all familiar wdth the 

 charmingly elegant contour of the 

 weeping willows — those emblems of 

 grief, which now so plentifully adorn 

 our cemetries and graveyards. The 

 origin of these ubiquitous plants, is 

 romantically ascribed to a single speci- 

 men growing in Pope's garden at 

 Twickenham, and which he reared 

 from a chance twig, forming part of a 

 package of figs from Turkey. Certain 

 it is that only pistillate flowers have 

 been observed in this country, and all 

 the numerous specimens now in culti- 

 vation are grafts upon other species of 

 willows. Inferior varieties are often 

 substituted, such as the purple willow 

 [S. purpurea) . In neglected graveyards 

 one may often observe the hardier stock 

 obliterating the lordlier scion. The 

 willow can also claim the distinction 

 of producing the smallest true tree, 

 meaning by this, a plant with a perma- 

 nent woody stem. This lowly shrub 

 [S, herhacea) is found on the top of 

 Snowdon, and the Lake Mountains, 

 and is abundant on the summit of all 

 the Scottish Alps. It is truly arctic 

 in its character, extending to Iceland, 

 and the extreme northern limit of 

 vegetation, when it has been found by 

 Polar explorers, sustaining a precarious 

 existence on the frigid borderland of 

 perpetual ice. Fully exposed to the 

 cutting blasts which sweep these 



