SALIX Helix*
Rose Willow.
DIOECIA Diandria.
Gen. Char. Male, Cal. the scales of a catkin. Con
none. Nectary a gland at the base of the stamina*
Stain. 1— 5. Female, Cal. and Ned. like the male*
Cor. none. Stigmas 2. Caps, superior, of 1 cell
and 2 valves. Seeds downy.
Spec. Char. Erect. Stamen one. Leaves lanceolate,
pointed, slightly serrated, smooth. Style prominent,
cylindrical. Stigmas linear.
Syn. Salix Helix. Linn. Sp. PI. 1444. Sm. FI.
Brit. 1040. Buds. 427* Relh. 385.
S. monandra. With. 45. Hull. 218. Sibth. 16.
Abbot. 212. Curt. Lond.fasc. 6. t. 71.
S. humilior, folks angustis subcasruleis, ex ad verso
binis. Rail Syn. 448.
I ^O T uncommon in marshy places, osier holts, &c. flowering
about the end of March or beginning of April.
It forms a small, slender, upright tree, with long, tough,
very smooth and polished, twigs, of a pale yellowish or purplish
ash-colour. Leaves (as well as catkins) opposite or alternate
on the same plant; the former is a rare circumstance
in this genus. Footstalks short. Stipulse none. The form
of the leaves is lanceolate, pointed, very much drawn out, as
it were, toward the base into a linear shape. This is a distinguishing
character. The serratures are slight, and most in the
upper part. There is a little pubescence on the youngest leaves
only: the older are quite smooth, of a light, somewhat glaucous,
green. Male catkins, about an inch Tong, on shortish stalks.
Scales concave, tipped with black. Nectary oblong, entire.
Stamen 1, with a 4-lobed anthera. Female catkins thicker
and with broader scales. Germen sessile, ovate, silky. Style
very perceptibly projecting, smooth, with linear, at length
cloven, stigmas.
We shall take the first opportunity of delineating the much
rarer S. purpurea, which Hoffmann and Curtis confound with
this.