2749
SALIX laxiflora.
Loose-flowered, Willow.
Gen. Char. Male : Cal. a scale of an imbricated catkin,,
single-flowered. Cor. none. Nect. a gland
or glands at the base of the stamens. Starn.
\ __5 (or more). Female : Cal. and Nect. as in
the male. Cor. none. Caps, of 1 cell and 2
valves. Seeds tufted.
Spec. Char. Upright. Young shoots slightly pubescent.
Leaves naked/ flat, broadly obovate,
narrowed to the base, slightly toothed, glauces-
cent beneath ; upper ones acute. Stipules small,
concave. Catkin loose. Germen stalked, blunt-
ish, naked in the lower part. Style as long as
the linear divided stigmas.
O b se r v e d in 1810 at Killin in Breadalbane; but
previously distinguished by the late Mr. G. Anderson, who
communicated the plant from which our specimens have
been taken, without informing us in what part of Britain
he had found it. It forms at this time a tree-like shrub,
more than 12 feet high, with crooked divaricated branches,
flowering in April.
Twigs shining, greenish grey, or slightly tinged with
brown ; at first sparingly and inconspicuously pubescent.
Leaves 1 inch to U inch long, bright green and shining
above, more or less glaucous beneath ; their substance thin;
their edges flat, or most slightly revolute, with minute
glandular teeth in shallow crenatures, which are mostly
few, often entirely wanting. The lower leaves are rounded
upwards, with or without a small point; the upper ones