LXXXV. SALICACE.E. 
397 
Salix ] 
1. Salix. Scales of the catkins entire, with 1 — 2 nectariferous glands, 
and no perianth. Stain. 1 — 5. 
2. Populus. Scales of the catkins usually incise, without nectariferous 
glands. Perianth cup-shaped containing the stani. and pist. 
Stamens 4 — 30. 
1. Salix Linn. Willow. Sallow. Osier. 
Scales of the catkins quite entire. Perianth 0, except 1 — 2 
unilateral nectariferous glands between the stamens or pistil and 
the raehis. — Barren fi. Stain. 1 (of 2 combined) or 2 — 5 
— Fertile fl. Stigmas 2, entire or cloven into two. Caps. 
1 -celled. — Named, according to Theis, from sal, near, and lis, 
water, in Celtic ; but the Welsh and Celtic name of the tree is 
helig, the Cornish one helak, and the Gaelic and Irish seileach, 
from any of which Salix is rather derivable. 
[The many important uses rendered by the different species of 
willow and osier, serve to rank them among the first in our list of 
economical plants. The' larger kinds, which are, too, of the most 
rapid growth, yield timber and exceed 60 feet in height ; whilst the 
least of them (5. herbacea ), which grows on the summits of our 
Highland mountains, can scarcely be said to rise above the surface of 
the soil in which it vegetates. Many are in great request for baskets, 
hoops, and crates : their bark is used by the tanner, and that of one 
species (S. fragilis var. Russelliana) as a substitute for the true Peru- 
vian bark. A correct knowledge of them, then, is of primary im- 
portance ; yet there is not in the whole range of the vegetable crea- 
tion, a genus liable to more variation in properties, as well as in foliage 
and general appearance, at different periods of growth, in different 
soils and situations, and under different circumstances ; so that the 
accurate determination of its species, or even what constitutes a species, 
has baffled the researches of the ablest botanists. — We shall continue 
to adopt, with few deviations, the arrangement proposed by Mr. 
Borrer in the 5th and previous editions of the British Flora, and refer 
our readers there for full notes on all the species or varieties. But it 
is to be regretted that some general arrangement, not for a local flora 
only, but for the species of the whole world, were not devised and 
universally adopted ; perhaps none hitherto attempted is superior to 
that of Koch, with some slight modifications.] 
i. Filament I, with a 4-celled anther, or forked upwards and bearing 
two ‘2-cel/ed anthers. Capsules sessile, very pubescent. Catkins ap- 
pearing before the leaves, lateral, sessile, with 2 — 3 small leaf-like brac- 
teas at the base ; scales dark or purple at the end. Leaves linear or 
lanceolate, green or glaucous ( not white and silky') beneutli. Branches 
twiggy. Monandrte Borr .' 
1. S. purpurea L. ( purple IF.) ; filament 1, capsule ovate, 
style very short or none, stigmas ovate entire or emarginate, 
1 Mr. Bentham unites all of this group into one species under the name of S, 
purpurea. 
