The Scottish Naturalist. 



123 



hybrids are sought out and recorded, we cannot hope to have an 

 accurate acquaintance with the distribution of the British Salices. 



Another hindrance to the study of the British Willows has 

 been the difficulty of naming the varieties which are still retained 

 in our lists and hand-books, though some of the latter truly say 

 that these varieties are scarcely distinguishable. As for the great 

 majority of these varieties, the sooner their names are consigned 

 to oblivion the better, for of them it may be said that they are 

 Voces et prceterea nihil, and their retention serves only to render 

 more difficult a study that is already sufficiently intricate. Many 

 of them were founded on cultivated individuals, and, if they exist 

 in nature at all, it is only as links in a long chain of innumerable 

 modifications. The first lesson, therefore, that the student of 

 British Willows must learn, is to abandon without compunction 

 almost all the varietal names which appear in the "London 

 Catalogue." 



As Smith, Leefe, and others have rightly said, Willows, to be 

 known well, must be studied in a living condition. But, as it is 

 not in all cases or at all times possible to do this, good specimens 

 should be preserved. Unfortunately this is a fact that is not 

 always recognised, and hence many specimens which are worse 

 than useless exist in collections. A proper and useful Willow- 

 specimen should consist of a flowering example gathered in fit 

 condition, and of two leaf-examples, one from a terminal shoot, 

 the other from a side-branch. 



In collecting Willows it is of the utmost importance to guard 

 against an admixture of specimens. The bushes should not only 

 be marked, but a note of their situation taken. A good method 

 of marking is to cut Roman numerals on the bark, but, since this 

 is troublesome with the higher numbers, the same numbers may 

 be repeated when the localities are distinct. To avoid confusion 

 in the vasculum, the collector should provide himself with slips of 

 paper (3 or 4 inches long), with a slit cut in each. On these the 

 number of the bush and the indication of its situation are written, 

 and then the specimens are thrust through the slits and placed in 

 the vasculum. On reaching home the number and other particulars 

 of each bush must be entered in the note-book, and the permanent 

 or note-book number (Arabic figures) placed opposite it. Then 

 by means of small pieces of paper attach to each specimen its 

 permanent number. In this way all risk of mixing specimens is 



