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SALIX caerulea.
Blue Willow.
DIOECIA Diandria.
Gen. Char. Male, Cal. the scales o f a catkin. Cor.
none. Nectary a gland at the base o f the stamina.
Stam. 1— 5. Female, Cal. and Nect. like the male.
Cor. none. Stigmas 2. Caps, superior, o f one cell
and two valves. Seeds downy.
Spec. Char. Leaves lanceolate, taper-pointed, serrated;
the under side at length almost naked; the
lowest serratures glandular. Stigmas deeply
cloven.
Syn. Salicis albas varietas. Sm. F l. B rit. 1072.
T h i s Willow, mentioned in the Fl. Brit', as a variety of
S. alia, is so remarkable and so valuable, that we venture to
name it as a species, that it may be the more noticed. The
male flowers, when known, may perhaps afford better characters
than we have been able to obtain from the leaves. The
late Mr. Crowe, who found the female plant wild in Suffolk,
was of opinion that this might be taken for S .a lla in many
parts of England, the real one, l. 2430, not being known in
some of the northern counties. He had for many years paid
great attention to the cultivation of this tree, as have Mr. Rigby
at Framingham, and Mr. Browne at Hetherset, Norfolk. A
cutting planted by the latter became in ten years a tree thirty-
five feet high; and five feet two inches in girth, having been
blown down in 1800 ; which is a rapidity of growth beyond
all comparison with that of the Common White Willow, and
even exceeding S. Russelliana, 1.1808. The wood and bark are
at least equal in quality to those'of alia. The foliage is distinguished
by its greaterluxuriance, more blue hue, and the almost
entire loss of the hairs from the under side of the adult leaves.
Mr. Crowe thought the stipulas might afford distinctions, but
we find them too variable.