50 
SALIX 
Exsiccata : — Leefe, i, n, as 5 . fusca var. parvifolia\ 86, as 5 . fusca var. repens ; 87, as S. f usca var. 
prostrata ; 88, as 5. fusca var. adscendens. 
Rhizomes long, creeping, sending out rather short and numerous prostrate or ascending branches. 
Laminae very variable in size and shape, narrowly or broadly elliptical, often more or less hairy 
especially when young and especially on the lower surface. Pistillate catkins usually sessile or 
subsessile even at maturity. Capsules subglabrous or pubescent 
Very variable, and perhaps closer study would result in the rehabilitation of some of Smith’s forms. There is a curious 
tendency among present-day British workers on willows to ignore varieties and to increase the number of putative hybrids. 
Locally common on heaths on a sandy or gravelly soil containing acidic humus, rare on peat moors. 
(b) S. repens var. fusca Wimmer et Grabowski Ft. Sites, iii, 381 (1829); Koch Syn. 656 (1837); Syme 
Eng. Bot. viii, 246 (1868) including var. incubacea p. 247; A. et G. Camus Classif. Saul. 167 (1904) including 
var. lanata-, S. fusca L. Sp. PI. 1020 (1753) including 5 . incubacea ; Smith FI. Brit. 1060 (1804) including S. 
incubacea Smith Eng. FI. iv, 212 (1828) excl. syn. Wulfen. 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. i960, as S. fusca (“a wrong fertile plant, sent for S. fusca , gave rise to an 
erroneous description in FI. Brit., corrected in” this figure (Smith Eng. Ft. iv, 210 (1810)); Forbes Sal. Woburn. 
t. 83, as S. fusca ; Borrer in Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2600, as 5 . mcubacea ; Reichenbach Icon. t. 590, fig. 2040 ; A. et 
G. Camus Atlas t. 14, fig. E. 
Camb. Brit. FI. ii. Plate 47. (a) Shoot with staminate catkins, (b) Shoot with pistillate catkins, (c) Barren 
shoot, (d) Staminate flowers (enlarged), (e) Pistillate flowers (enlarged). Huntingdonshire (E. W. H.). 
Rhizomes short. Stem erect, up to about 1*5 m. or rather more in height, often free from 
branches near the ground. Branches slender, often ascending or suberect. Laminae narrowly or 
broadly oblong-elliptical or elliptical-lanceolate, usually with an abundance of silky hairs underneath 
and sometimes on both surfaces. Pistillate catkins with longer and more leafy peduncles than in 
var. ericetorum. 
Common on the fens of East Anglia, where it usually grows to the exclusion of the other varieties of 5 . 
repens , as on Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire, and doubtless elsewhere. We are unable to state positively whether 
or not the variety grows on acidic peat, though it occurs on transitional moors. 
The form of var. fusca with numerous silky hairs on both surfaces has often been mistaken for var. argentea ; and 
indeed it may be regarded as forming the passage to this variety. Perhaps the following names refer to this form : — S. 
lanata Roth FI. Germ, i, 418 (1788); Thuiller FI. Enr. Paris ed. 2, 516 (1799); non L. ; A. repens var. argentea Duby 
Bot. Gall, i, 424 (1828); Wimmer et Krause FI. Siles. ii, 380 (1829); Gaudin FI. Helv. vi, 234 (1830); Koch Syn. 656 
(1837); Rouy FI. France xii, 208 (1910); non S. argentea Smith loc. cit. ; S. repens var. lanata A. et G. Camus Classif. 
Saul. 168 (1904). It is to be distinguished from var. argentea chiefly in its less social habit. 
(c) S. repens var. argentea Syme Eng. Bot. viii, 248 (1868); S. arenaria L. Sp. PI. 1019 (1753) pro 
minima parte (hoc est, syn. Raii) ; Hudson FI. Angl. 364 (1762) part.; S', argentea Smith FI. Brit. 1059 (1804)!; 
S. repens subsp. argentea A. et G. Camus Classif. Saul. 168 (1904); S. repens race eu-repens var. arenaria 
v. Seemen in Ascherson und Graebner Syn. iv, 126 (1909); S. repens subsp. dunensis Rouy Ft. France xii, 
209 (1910). 
leones : — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 1364, as S. argentea ; Ft. Dan. t. 2605, as S. repens var. argentea ; Hartig Forst. 
Culttirpfl. t. 1 18, fig. a — c, as S. argentea ; Reichenbach Icon. t. 591, fig. 1243, as S. argentea ; A. et G. Camus, 
op. cit., Atlas, t. 15, as S. argentea. 
Camb. Brit. Ft. ii. Plate 48. (a) Shoot with staminate catkins, (b) Shoot with pistillate catkins. ( c ) Young 
barren shoot. ( d ) Staminate flowers, (e) Staminate flowers (enlarged). (/) Pistillate flowers, (g) Pistillate 
flowers (enlarged). Jersey (E. W. H.). 
Rhizome very extensively creeping. Branches usually ascending, and attaining a height of 
from go to 1 '5 m., often longer and less branched than in the other varieties. Laminae larger 
and broader as a rule than in the other varieties, up to about 2^5 to 4^5 cm. long and about 
two-thirds as broad, usually oval to elliptical, margin usually entire, with an abundance of shining 
silvery hairs underneath and often on both surfaces. Catkins at maturity with rather long 
peduncles which are more or less leafy at least at the base, usually larger than in the other 
varieties. 
When founding his S. argentea (FI. Brit. p. 1059), Smith states as its habitat “in arenosis maritimis,” and terms it in the 
vernacular the “silky sand willow,” and records it from “the sea-shores of Scotland” and “the sand burrows at Laugharn.” 
When figuring it (Eng. Bot. t. 1364), he repeats that it is “a native of loose blowing sandy ground on the sea-shore.” 
When towards the close of his life he reviews all his willows, he reiterates that it is a plant of “ the sea-shore, among 
loose blowing sand-banks.” What excuse is there, therefore, for the suggestion by A. et G. Camus (op. cit. p. 168) or 
for the definite statement by Rouy (op. cit. pp. 208, 209) that Smith confused his S. argentea with inland, allied forms? 
