42 
SALIX 
S. propinqua\ i, 9, i, 13, as S. andersoniana ; i, 14, as 5 . damascener, ii, 35, as 5 . petraea\ iii, 73, as 5 . forsteriana ; 
i, 9, i, 16, i, 17, i, 20, ii, 43; E. F. et W. R. Linton, 20, 64; 65, as 5 . nigricans forma; Reichenbach, 568; 
Wirtgen, xv, 850, as 5 . nigricans var. nuda\ xv, 851, as S. nigricans var. eriocarpa ; Herb. FI. Ingric. viii, 565; viii, 
565 b, as nigricans var. eriocarpa ; x, 565 c, as S. nigricans var. platyphylla. 
Shrub, up to about 4 m. high, or trailing undershrub. Branches spreading or suberect or 
elongated and arched, often divaricate, blackish or brownish or olive-green, more or less hairy 
or glabrescent. Buds oval, pubescent at least when young. Stipules often rather large, subcordate, 
dentate, acute. Petioles up to about 1 cm. in length, more or less hairy. Laminae very variable 
in shape, elliptical or oblong-elliptical or broadly lanceolate or rather obovate or almost suborbicular, 
more or less rounded at the base, more or less serrate or crenate-serrate to subentire, often 
acute to subacuminate, upper surface glabrescent or glabrous, lower surface greyish and more or 
less pubescent especially on the midrib, thinner and duller than in .S’, phylicifolia, often turning- 
blackish when dried. Catkins shortly peduncled, appearing a little before or along with the 
leaves ; late April and May. Staminate catkins subsessile, bracteate at the base, oval or oblong- 
oval, about 1 '5 to 2'o cm. long as a rule. Bracts oval or oblong-oval or oboval, brown towards 
the apex, hairy. Filaments often rather hairy towards the base. Pistillate catkins with short 
sub-leafy peduncles, cylindrical, up to about 3 cm. long, lengthening in fruit to about twice the 
length. Bracts more or less oval and hairy. Ovary stalked, elongate, hairy or glabrous. Styles 
long and rather slender. Stigmas large, usually bifid, yellowish-green. Capsules pubescent or 
(usually) glabrous; May and June. 
Some Swedish authorities, e.g., Enander (Sat. Scand. iii (1910)), maintain that the ovaries and capsules of S. nigricans 
are invariably glabrous, and that all plants which 
appear to be .S’, nigricans having pubescent ovaries 
and capsules are S. nigricans x phylicifolia. Smith, 
however, who is the author of the species, described 
its ovaries as being pubescent, and maintained 
this to the end (vide Eng. FI. iv, 172, 1828). 
The great majority of botanists now recognise that 
this, like other species of this section of the genus, 
may have either glabrous or pubescent ovaries. 
Enander (op. cit. p. ix) writes the name thus S. 
nigricans [ 3 Sm. atque 9 (Fr. ex p.)],” a cumbersome 
and non-permissible method of citation : not only so, 
but it obscures the fact that Fries himself issued 
specimens of S. nigricans , some of which have 
glabrous ovaries and others of which have pubes- 
cent ovaries. 
White (in Trans, and Proc. Perthshire Soc. Nat. 
Sc. i, pt. iv, 179 (1890)) states that as represented 
by the specimens in his herbarium, “ which have 
not been selected with any special purpose in this 
respect, glabrous capsules occur in 34 bushes of S. 
nigricans and in 4 of 5 . phylicifolia , and more or 
less pubescent capsules in 27 bushes of S. nigricans 
and 14 bushes of S. phylicifolia. It would seem 
from this that pubescent capsules are comparatively 
commoner in S. phylicifolia — the more glabrous 
plant in other respects — than in S. nigricans." 
(a) subvar. leiocarpa nobis ; S. nigri- 
cans var. leiocarpa Godet FI. fura 647 (1853) ; 
A. et G. Camus Classif. Saul. 199 (1904). 
Capsules glabrous. 
(/ 3 ) subvar. eriocarpa nobis ; S. nigri- 
cans var. eriocarpa Koch Syn. 6 51 (1837); S. 
nigricans var. hebecarpa A. et G. Camus Classif. 
Saul. 200 (1904). Capsides pubescent. 
Stream-sides in northern and hilly districts ; indigenous from Lancashire and Yorkshire to 
Ross-shire and Orkney; perhaps always planted in England south of Lancashire and Yorkshire, 
e.g., in Warwickshire, Norfolk, Herefordshire, Oxfordshire, and Surrey; there are rather old records 
of it for the north of Ireland, but Praeger ( Irish Top. Bot. p. 284) says “ its rediscovery is 
desirable”; planted in co. Westmeath; ascending to about 610 m. in the Highlands. 
