CHAP. cm.

SALIC a'cE^E. Sa'lIX.

1523

1314

Svec. Char., §c. Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, pointed, serrated, silky on both* sides; the lowest serratures glandular. Stamens hairy. Germen smooth,almost sessile. Stigmas deeply cloven. Scales notched. (Sal. Wob.,p. 271.) A native of Europe, from Norway and Sweden to the Mediter-ranean Sea; of the north-east and west of Asia ; and introduced into theUnited States ; near all the larger rivers of Russia and'Livonia, es-pecially the Irtish , where it attains the height of a large tree.

It is frequent in Britain, and also in Ireland ; and has longbeen more extensively planted as a timber tree than any otherspecies. It grows rapidly, attaining the height of 30 ft. m ten djMff) Ifor twelve years, and growing 50 ft. or 60 ft. high, or upwards, H ^even on inferior soils. In favourable situations, it will reachthe height of 80 ft. or upwards. It is very extensively plantedas a pollard tree, not only in Britain , but in many parts of theContinent, and even in Russia ; some hundreds of miles ofthe road from Moscow to the Austrian frontier, where itcrosses those interminable steppes that appear bounded onlyby the horizon, being marked by pollards of S. alba, at regulardistances along each side of the road.

Varieties. Mr. Borrer suggests that, perhaps, two species are included inS. alba. ( Borr. in a letter.) “ One of the few botanists really acquaintedwith willows, Mr. Borrer , has suggested that there are some presumptivedistinctions between our S. alba and that of Hoffmann, in the shape of thelower leaves, and of the braeteas (scales), as well as in the length anddensity of the catkins.” (Smith in Eng. FI., iv. p. 232.)

“t S, a. 2 ceerulea; S. alba var. Smith FI. Brit., p. 1072.; S. caeruleaSmith Eng. Bot., t. 2431., Forbes in Sal. Wob., No. 137., Smith inRees's Cycle., No. 141.; ’S. alba $ Smith Eng. FL, iv. p. 231., KochComm., p. 16. The upland, or red-tinged, Willow, Pontey Profit.Planter , 4th ed., 1814, p. 72.; the Leicester Willow, Davy's Agricul-tural Chemistry, 1 st ed.; Blue Willow, Smith, and our fig. 1.37. in p. 1629.—This kind has been treated of by Smith as a variety of S. hlba in hisFI. Brit., as a species in Eng. Bot., and subsequently, in his Eng.FL, as a variety of S. alba. Forbes, in Sal. Wob., has treated of itas a species,and given the following distinctive character of it, which isthe same as that given in Eng. Bot. Leaves lanceolate, taper-pointed,serrated ; the under side at length almost naked of hairs; the lowestserratures glandular. Stigmas deeply cloven. (Sal. Wob., p. 273.)The female is figured in Eng. Bot., where the male is stated to benot discovered; but the figure in Sal. Wob., given as of this kind,exhibits the latter sex, which is common, Mr. Borrer informs us,about Chichester, Bognor , &c., almost to the exclusion of the female;whilst he has never seen a male S. alba in flower in Sussex,eastward of the neighbourhood of Arundel, with the exception of somewhich he had himself introduced. S. a. caerulea is a native of Britain ,m meadows and moist woods ; flowering, in the Woburn collection, inMay, and again in August. This willow, Sir J. E. Smith observes,which is “ mentioned in the Flora Britannica as a variety of S. alba, isso remarkable and so valuable, that we venture to name it as a species,that it may be the more noticed. The male flowers, when known,may,perhaps, afford better characters than we have been able to obtainfrom the leaves. The late Mr. Crowe, who found the female plantwild in Suffolk, was of opinion that this might be taken for S. alba inmany parts of England, the real on e(E, B., t. 2430. [oury%.1315.]) notBeing known in some of the northern counties. He had for many yearspaid great attention to this tree, as have Mr. Rigby at Framlingham,and Mr. Browne at Hetherset, Norfolk . A cutting, planted by thelatter, became, in 10 years, a tree 35 ft. high, and 5 ft. 2 in. in girt,and was blown down in 1800. This is a rapidity of growth beyond5 g 3