1564

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

has been supposed, in allusion to the leaves of the kinds of which it is con-stituted turning black in drying, but to mark their affinity to S. nigricansSmith, a well-known individual of their number. ( Borrer in Eng. Bot.Suppl., t. 2795.) In this case, it may be supposed that the characters of S.nigricans Smith are pretty well representative of those of each of the kindsof the group. Some of the characters of S. nigricans Smith are describedbelow, No. 108. According to Mr. Borrer (Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2729,) itis doubtful, in application to almost every kind of the group, whether itis a species or not.

It is shown, under the preceding group, that Mr. Borrer professeshimself not acquainted with all the kinds of that group and this; andthat he may, therefore, have placed some of them wrongly. It may in-terest the lovers of broad grounds of distinction in species to knowthat Koch, who has applied this principle to the willows, has includedseveral of the kinds in this group, which are treated below as distinct spe-cies, in one species. Under his species S. phylicifolia, he has cited S. phy-licifolia Lin. Sp. PL, ii. 1442., Willd. Sp. PL, iv. p. 659., exclusively of thesynonyme of Smith, Wahlenb . FI.Lapp., No. 482. ; S. stylosa Dec.-, S. stylarisScringe; S. hastata Hoppe; and S. hybrida Hoffm.; as synonymes: and thefollowing as being still the species, under a more or less varied form, — S.nigricans Smith, S.Ammaxmidna Willd., S. Andersonidraffl Smith, S. spiraesfoliaWilld. ex Link, S. rupestris Smith, S. Forsteriana Smith, S. hirta Smith, S.cotinifolia Smith, and S. wlmifolia Hort. Berol. He has intimated, besides,that several of the kinds distinguished by Schleicher also belong to thisspecies. Dr. Bindley, in his Synopsis of the British Flora, where he hasfollowed Koch wholly, has added to Koch’s S. phylicifolia the kinds S.damascena Forbes and S. Borreridrca Smith. Relatively to the principle ofrendering species in the willows thus comprehensive, Mr. Borrer makes thefollowing remark in Eng. Bot. Suppl., t. 2702.: — “ We have repeatedlydisclaimed all dogmatical decision as to. what are species among the willows;nor have we ever denied the probability that many of those which, in thepresent state of our knowledge, we think it expedient to propose as distinctmay be, in reality, mere seminal varieties or hybrids. This being admitted,the further admission can scarcely be withheld, that those botanists maypossibly be correct in their views who regard, in some instances, as specieswhat we are accustomed to regard as sections of the genus.” Mr. Borrerhas added, “ Of these facile princeps is Koch, whose lucid Be SaUeihusEwropceis Commentatio displays a most intimate acquaintance with hissubject.” With regard to the details of Koch’s adjudication of the above-cited species S. phylicifolia, Mr. Borrer gives the following correctivenotices, which, for the sake of accuracy, we give below: —

Under S. damascena Forbes, Eng. Bot. Suppl., t. 2709.,it is remarked, “Kochwould, no doubt, refer S. damascena, as he does its affinities, S. Andersonim®,S. nigricans, &c., to Wahlenberg ’s S. phylicifolia ; but those botanists wouldscarcely have appropriated the name to willows of this set, had they beenaware of the fact that the original Lapland specimen of S. phylicifolia inthe Linntean herbarium is indubitably, as was long since stated by omim,the S. phylicifolia of Eng. Bot., t. 1958. This last is united by Koch, withnumerous affinities, to S. arbuscula ofWahlenberg, which he regards as theS. arbuscula of the Linnsean Flora Suecica.” Under S. tenuifolia Smith thisremark occurs in Eng. Bot. Suppl., t. 2795.: — “ S. tenuifolia and S. rupes-tris are so nearly allied, that we cannot undertake to point out satisfactorydistinctions; yet Koch places S. tenuifolia under S. arbuscula, and o. rupestris under S. phylicifolia.” Under S. petrse'a Eng. Bot. SuppL, t- •>is this remark : — “ It is surely by error that Koch has placed S. P? tr ®under his S. arbuscula) with S. phylicifolia of Smith; and not under his ovS. phylicifolia, with S. Ammannkbw and its affinities.”