20 
SALIX 
(a) S. alba var. genuina Godron FI. Lorraine ii, 289 (1843); Syme Eng. Bot. viii, 21 1 (1868); S. alba 
forma argentea Wimmer Sal. Eur. 17 (1866); S. alba var. argentea A. et G. Camus Classif. Saul. 74 (1904); 
Rouy FI. France xii, 194 (1910); 5 . alba L. loc. cit., sensu stricto ; Smith FI. Brit. 1071 (1804)!. 
leones : — Hoffman Hist. Sal. t. 7, t. 8, et t. 24, fig. 3, as S', alba ; Smith Eng. Bot. t. 2430, as S. alba ; Forbes 
Sal. Woburn, t. 136, as 5 . alba ; FI. Dan. t. 2552, as S. alba-, Reichenbach Icon. t. 608, fig. 1263, as alba-, 
Hartig Forst. Culturpfl. t. 40, as S. alba ; A. et G. Camus op. cit., Atlas t. 2, as S. alba. 
Camb. Brit. FI. ii. Plate 23. (a) Barren shoot. ( b ) Shoot with staminate catkins. (c) Shoot with 
pistillate catkins. ( d ) Leaf (lower surface), (e) Staminate flowers (enlarged). {/) Capsules (one enlarged). 
Huntingdonshire (E. W. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 847, as S. alba\ Fries, i, 62, as S. alba ; A. et J. Kerner, 18, as S. alba ; Leefe, 56, 
57 . 58, 59, as 5 . alba\ E. F. et W. R. Linton, 3, 79?, as S', alba ; Todaro, 483, as S. alba. 
In the herbarium of Linnaeus one sheet of S. alba is correctly named, whilst another sheet, doubtless 
due to a momentary aberration, is named S. fragilis. 
Laminae of the spring-leaves with long silvery hairs on both surfaces when young, more or 
less glabrescent ; of the summer-leaves with more or less persistent silvery hairs. Capsules sessile 
or very shortly stalked. 
(b) S. alba var. caerulea Smith, Eng. FI. iv, 231 (1828)!; Syme, Eng. Bot. viii, 21 1 (1868); A. et G. 
Camus Classif. Saul. 75 (1904); S. caerulea Smith Eng. Bot. no. 2431 (1812)!. 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 2431, as S. caerulea. 
Tree subpyramidal in habit, and of extremely rapid growth. Branches ascending at a narrower 
angle than even in var. genuina. Laminae usually rather larger than in var. genuina , with silky 
white hairs when young, but at maturity less hairy than in var. genuina, more bluish-green above, 
and more subglaucous below. Capsules shortly stalked. 
This variety yields the most valuable timber for cricket-bats of any willow, though other members of the series 
Fragi/es, chiefly S', alba and S. alba x fragilis are sometimes used for the same purpose. See E. R. Pratt in fourn. 
Roy. Agric. Soc. lxvi, 19 — 34 (1905), and W. J. Bean in Kew Bull. 31 1 (1907). The staminate tree does not appear 
to be cultivated for the best cricket-bat timber. 
Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Shropshire. Many of the British records of 5 . alba var. caerulea may 
be referred to forms of S', alba x fragilis. 
It is recorded for several countries on the mainland of Europe ; but we doubt if the majority of these 
records really refer to Smith’s plant. 
(c) -fS. alba var. vitellina Stokes Bot. Mat. Med. iv, 506 (1812); Syme Eng. Bot. viii, 21 1 (1868); A. et 
G. Camus Classif. Saul. 75 (1904); S. vitellina L. Sp. PI. 1016 (1753)!; Smith FI. Brit. 1050 (1804)!. 
leones: — Hoffman Hist. Sal. t. 11 ; t. 12; t. 24, fig. 1 ; as S. vitellina-, Smith Eng. Bot. t. 1389, as S'. 
vitellina ; Forbes Sal. Woburn, t. 20, as S. vitellina ; FI. Dan. t. 2854, as S. vitellina ; Hartig Forst. Cidturpfl. 
t. 41, as S. vitellina. 
Exsiccata : — E. F. et W. R. Linton, 32 ; Toeppfer, 103, as S. alba var. vitellina f. vestita. 
A smaller tree than var. genuina. Bark of the young branches bright orange or red in colour, 
very noticeable in winter and spring. Laminae losing most of their silky hairs as they mature. 
Bracts longer, narrower, more acute. Capsules shortly stalked. 
We have only seen this variety where planted as an osier ; but Smith {Eng. Bot.) states that “ Mr Crowe 
observed it in rough low pastures at Ovington, Norfolk, unquestionably wild.” Southern England and northwards 
to Forfarshire, avoiding the hills. 
S. alba, S. fragilis, and their varieties and hybrids are the common “pollard willows” of southern England. 
S. alba occurs in lowland localities, by stream-sides, in wet alluvial meadows and woods, in 
marshes and fens, demanding a soil richer in mineral content than S. fragilis. So frequently planted, 
from the Channel Isles to Caithness, that it is difficult to state its natural limits ; but we believe it 
to be indigenous in eastern England, as, for example, in the fens of Norfolk, and we think it is 
probably so throughout the richer alluvial soils of southern and eastern England and even eastern 
Scotland (northwards to south-eastern Perthshire) and southern Ireland. Planted up to nearly 
300 m. in Derbyshire. 
Scandinavia (planted northwards to 63° 52') and Denmark (doubtfully indigenous), Germany, 
France, central Europe, Russia, southern Europe (ascending to 1624 m. in Spain); northern Africa; 
Asia Minor to Siberia and the Himalaya mountains and Tibet; North America (not indigenous). 
