slightly revolute, with wavy crenatures and very shallow
notches, above which small glandular, and at length callous
teeth are seated on the upper disk of the leaf at a little
space from the margin ; upper surface of a rather pale
green, scarcely shining, obscurely reticulated with sunken
veins, and sprinkled with appressed hairs so minute as to
be almost microscopic on the older leaves; underside more
densely hairy, yet paler green rather than gray except in
very young leaves, in old leaves often rusty; its lateral
nerves slender, not very prominent. Leafstalks short, slender,
downy. Stipules slightly stalked, small, half-heartshaped
or half-ovate, pointed, toothed, often recurved. Catkins
cylindrical, about an inch long, on a thickish stalk
beset with a few small leaves which are very silky beneath.
Calyx-scales silky, dark brown towards the point, acute,
the uppermost more rounded. Nectary single, oblong,
truncate. Stamens 2, bearded on the lower part. Germen
overtopping the calyx-scale by about half whilst in flower,
ovate-lanceolate, densely silky, on a silky stalk of about a
third of its own length. Stigmas pale, oblong, mostly entire,
but occasionally divided. The flowers appear before
the leaves, about the beginning of April.
The newly expanded leaves of the male plant are beautifully
tinged with brownish purple, which is nearly or in
general quite wanting in the female. Their sides in that
stage of growth are closely rolled back, as is usual in the
group to which this species belongs.
This Salix considerably resembles S.cinereaanA S.oleifolia
of Smith, but seems still more nearly allied to S. Smithiana,
(the S. mollissima of Engl. Bot. t. 1509,) and by it connected
with the Osier tribe. That species, however, has
the leaves much whiter and more silky beneath, long narrow
stipules, (not half-heart-shaped, as they have sometimes
been described,) and slender, deeply divided stigmas,
longer in proportion to the style. The true S. mollissima
of Ehrhart, which is not yet known to be British, is characterized
by a sessile germen : its catkins are very silky,
with pale brown obtuse scales; its leaves almost green beneath,
but more silky than in S. ferruginea.—W.B.