SALICES AMERICANS; 
WORTH AMERICAN 
WILLOWS. 
a c ty r-rp T -T C 0 P K 
BY 
JOSEPH BARRATT, M. D. 
4 t 
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE AC A DEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 
OF PHILADELPHIA ; OF THE NEW-YORK LYCEUM OF NATURAL 
HISTORY; YALE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, ETC.; 
AND OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTION FOR THE 
PROMOTION OF SCIENCE AT WASHINGTON. 
MIDDLETOWN, CONN. 
1834 : revised 1840. 
Genus SALEL Linn. 
Sect. I. CINEREiE. 
Amenta ovalia vel ovalia cylindracea, preecocia ; Sta- 
mina 2, ex apice amenti prorumpentia ; squamse rubree, 
deinde nigricantes. — Amenta fcem. juniora recurvata. 
Germina pedicellata. Stigmata juniora plerumque rubra 
vel pallida-flava, demmn virescentia. Folia obovata,, lan- 
ceoalata plerumque integerrima, caneseentia ? rugosa., 
piloso-alba vel einerea ; marginibus seepe revolutis. 
Frutices. 
Barratt , (rev.) in Hooker FI. Bor- Am., Yol. 2, p. 144. 
This revised section is adapted to the Sallows of the Northern States. 
Several new species of this group, found on the North West Coast, 
and vallies of the Rocky Mountains, have been described in the Flora 
Boreali-Americana. Some of these last are remarkable for the dense 
white, or yellowish white tomentum investing their leaves and young 
branches ; as well as for the uncommon beauty of their large and 
glossy catkins. 
No. 1. Salix muhlenbergiana Willd. sp, pi. IY, 692, ( Excl . 
Syn. et descript.) — S. conifera. Muhl. Mag. Naturf Fr. 
Berlin, % IV, p. 240, t. vi. /. 9. et. Muhl. FI. Lancast. mss. II. p. 
776, nec Wangenheim. Pursh FI. Am. II. p. 612, n. 17, (excl. 
Syn. Michx. et Wangh.) 
4 The title of tliis Work is Der Gesellschaft, naturforschender Freunde, zu Berlin, 
1803. Table 6 , in this Work, exhibits figures of the leaves only, of nine American 
Willows. The same essay was translated and inserted in the Annals of Botany with 
the figures. 
Hab.— Grows in dry woods. Flowers April 4-10. Capsules ripe 
May 5-10. The latitude of Middletown, 41° N. 
Eng. Muhlenberg’s Willow or Sallow. Height 4-8 or 10 feet. 
This Willow frequently bears small cones at the ends of the branches. 
I . ' 
This species has occasioned much perplexity to Botanists, misled 
by the cone in the first instance. Ou r specimens and synonymes will 
serve to clear up the difficulty. Muhlenberg remarks, “occurrunt in 
hac specie ut in aliis, coni ovati — foliis lanceolatis subserratis, acutis 
subtus, rugosa villosis. Folia varia in uno ramo inferiora sunt obovata 
integra canata et lanceolata serrata. Flor. Lancast. MSS. vol. II, p. 776. 
TheS. conifera of Wangenheim, is altogether a different Willow, 
belonging to Sect. II, and is closely allied to S. discolor Muhl. I have 
met with it agreeing exactly with Wangenheim’s description and 
figure, in the State of New- York, where, according to this author it 
attains to a height of from 12 to 15 feet! and a thickness of 5 or G 
inches. It is somewhat surprising that Willdenow should have con- 
founded this large species with the diminutive S . iongirostris of 
Michaux, as he has done, sp. pi. 4, p. 705, n. 105. Pursh has copied 
this error from Willdenow, and most succeeding authors have followed 
them. 
Mr. Ray as far back as 1660, corrected the error of old authors, in 
supposing the rose-like excrescences at the ends of the twigs, were dis- 
tinct species. 
1. Salix Muhlenbergiana Willd . 
Var. a angustifolia. Barratt. 
— S. recurvata? Pursh . FI. 2, p. 609. n. 5. 
Flowers April 4-6. Capsules ripe May 6. 
Eng. Narrow-leaved Muhlenberg’s Sallow. 
The Willows of this section have the young fertile aments mostly 
recurved. I apprehend the S. recurvata of Pursh, is one of the nar- 
row-leaved varieties of this group, to the habits of which he appears to 
have paid but little attention. 
1. Salix muhlenbergiana. 
Var. [3 longifolia. Barratt. 
1. Salix muhlenbergiana. 
Var. y retusa. Barratt. 
1. Salix muhlenbergiana. 
Var. t> grandifolia. Barratt. 
1. Salix muhlenbergiana. 
Var. s brevifolia. Barratt. 
NOTE TO SALIX MUHLENBERGIANA. 
I have transferred the name Salix Muhlenbergiana, which Willdenow has given to 
Salix tristis, Aiton, hort. Kew. 3, p. 393., to another Willow described and named by 
Muhlenberg himself, as S. conifera. It appears that these Botanists had imposed names 
upon Willows to which in both instances prior names had been given 5 the. first by 
Aiton, the other hy W angenheim Willdenow in his Species Plantarum, vol. 4, p. 693 s 
n. 79, has inserted Aiton’s description of S. tristis. This proves to be ihe same Willow 
he has again at p. 692, n. 78, named and described as Salix Muhlenbergiana. He has 
further increased the confusion, by inserting with it as a synonyme, S. incana, Mich. 2, 
p.225. This last, (fide Herb.Michaux,) is identical with Salix Candida, which Willde- 
now himself has described, n. 113. I find on refering to the mss. Flora of Lancaster, by 
Dr. Muhlenberg under S. tristis, vol. 2, p. 777 , that S. Iongirostris, Michaux, is there 
correctly assigned as a synonyme, and Muhlenberg cites S. Muhlenbergiana, Willd. 
4, p. 692, as = S. tristis. Another instance of the confusion which W illdenow has 
occasioned among the willows, occurs under S. conifera, p. 7W5, n. 105. He there 
unites IS. conifera, Wangenheim Amer. 123, t. 31, f. 72, with the S. conifera, Muhlenberg, 
ami the S. Iongirostris, Michx. 2, p 226. This is copied by Sir J. E. Smith, in Rees 
Cyclopedia, vol. 32, n. 130. without correction. Salix conifera, Wangenheim, differs 
widely from the plant of Muhlenberg : hence the necessity of following the established 
rule regarding priority of names in works of science. 
As respects figures of Willows, if I may judge from my own specimens, I have seen 
none giving a correct representation of S. Muhlenbergiana. The figure representing 
one leaf only in Salictum Wob. f. 145, is S. tristis, Aiton, from one of Pursh’s speci- 
mens? obtained from the Herbarium of A. B. Lambert, Esq.; and S. villosa, Forbes, 
Salict. Wob.t. 92, it is also= S. tristis, Aiton. The latter figure represents a rather 
luxuriant plant, wanting flowers and fructification. Without pursuing Synonymes 
further at this time for want of space, I would remark that nothing less than figures, or 
uniform sets of specimens of North American Willows, can make this intricate genus 
readily known to Botanists. The confusion thus detected in the references of so great 
and learned a Professor as Willdenow, arose not from negligence, on his part, but from 
the difficulties of the subject, and the want of authentic specimens. I have myself ex- 
perienced all these difficulties ; and if I have been able to remove any of them, it ban 
been owing to the advantage of possessing the plants themselves in their living state, 
and comparing them, by my own observation, with the labors of my predecessors. 
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