/ iS ' E ' i 83 ]
S A L I X repcns.
Creeping dwarf Willow.
D I O E C IA Diandria.
G e n . C h a r . Male, Cal. the fcales of a catkin. Cor.
none. Neßary, a gland at the bafe of the ftamina.
Female, Cal. like the male. Cor. none. Style
cloven. Caff, of one' cell, with two valves.
Seeds downy.
S p e c . C h a r . Leaves entire, lanceolate, fomewhat
downy on both fides. Stem decumbent and
creeping. Style fimple; ftigma in 4 nearly
equal fegments. Capfules fmooth.
S y n . Salix repens. Linn. Sp. PL 1447. Hudf. FI.
An. 428. With, Bot. Arr. 1105. Relh. Cant,
366.
S, pumila anguftifolia, inferne lanuginofa, and S.
pumila anguftifolia prona parte cinerea. Rail
Syn. 447. Alfo S. alpina pumila, rotundifolia
repens, inferne fubcinerea. Ibid. 448.
E v e r y moift fandy heath abounds with this willow, which
flowers in May, and ripens its fruit in June and July, when, as
}n moft of this genus, the leaves arrive at their full lize. The
Varieties of S. repens are numerous, differing in the breadth of
their leaves, and in the greener or browner colour of the whole
plant; hence Hudfon and (Others have thought they had discovered
S. fufca and S. rofmarinifolia among them ; whereas
the former is S, arenaria of our Britifh writers (not of Linnseus),
and the latter we have never feen of Britifh growth. Profeffor
Gouan of Montpellier miflook a widely different and non-
defcript fpecies for S. repens of Linnaeus. *
The real one here figured has a very ftrong woody root, dark,
brown or black, throwing out many proflrate or widely fpread-
ing ftems, of which the flowering branches are generally ere£t.
The leaves are lanceolate or elliptical, filky when young, and
feldom quite fmooth beneath when o ld ; without ftipuhe-
Catkiris not long; fcales obtufe, hairy. Germen oval, filky,
with a fhort undivided ftyle, and a yellow fpreading ftigma,
cloven almoft equally into 4 lobes. Ripe capfule, fmooth,
lanceolate. The ftyle and ftigma muft be particularly noticed
in difcriminating fome of thefe fmall willows ; indeed we
ftand in need of every help in fo difficult a-tribe.