sprinkled with minute appressed hairs whilst young, at
length naked except the upper side of the stalk and midrib
; margin slightly cartilaginous and recurved, serrated
throughout with conspicuous, somewhat waved, gland-
tipped teeth. Stipules deciduous, half-ovate or semicircular,
glandulose. Catkins copiously produced, mostly
withered before the leaves burst forth, cylindrical, half an
inch long, closely set with flowers; their stalks very short,
usually furnished with 2 or 3 very small, recurved, strapshaped
floral leaves, which are smooth above and silky at
the back. Scales slightly concave, oblong, somewhat acute
in the lower and rounded in the upper part of the catkin,
brown or reddish towards the point, clothed with long
silky hairs. Stamens 2. Nectary a single, interior, truncate
gland. In a specimen collected in 1810, part of which is
outlined on the annexed plate, the female flowers are as
characterized above, and their stigmas half-cleft, with
spreading segments.
This beautiful and apparently distinct Willow bears no
slight resemblance, in the size, figure, and serratures of the
leaves, to Phillyrea latifolia. In the arrangement of the
genus it may stand between S. bicolor and S. Dicksoniana,
in both of which the leaves are for the most part obsoletely
serrated, and of a figure approaching to obovate with a
point. S. Dicksoniana is moreover of more humble stature,
and has both the germen and its stalk densely silky. The
figure in Engl.Bot. 1. 1390 is unfortunately bad; and has
led to doubts as to that species, which only authenticated
specimens could remove.—W. B.