not appear to be any satisfactory reason for it--certainly to
contemplate a naturally-grown Willow that grows on the edge of a limpid
stream, in which its graceful shoots and slender leaves are reflected,
does not suggest sad thoughts to the average healthy mind. The
association is chiefly with maidens forsaken by their false lovers, as
indicated by Shakespeare when he makes Desdemona say--
"My mother had a maid called Barbara:
She was in love; and he she loved proved mad,
And did forsake her; she had a song of 'Willow';
An old thing 'twas, but it expressed her fortune,
And she died singing it."
The Crack Willow or Withy (_Salix fragilis_) is one of the two most
considerable of our tree Willows. In good soil it will in twenty years
attain nearly its full height, which is eighty or ninety feet. Its bole
sometimes has a girth of twenty feet. Its smooth, polished shoots afford
the best ready means of distinguishing it, for instead of their base
pointing to the centre of the trunk as in other trees, they grow
obliquely, so that the shoots frequently cross each other. They are both
tough and pliant, but if struck at the base they readily break off. This
character explains the names Crack Willow and _fragilis_. The leaves are
lance-shaped, three to six inches long, smooth, with glandular teeth,
pale or glaucous on the underside, and with half-heart-shaped stipules,
which, however, are soon cast off. As we have already indicated under
the head of Poplars, the male and female catkins of the Willows are
borne by different trees. In the case of the Crack Willow, the male
catkins are an inch or two long, proportionately stout, each flower
bearing two stamens (occasionally three, four, or five). The female
catkin is more slender, the flowers each containing a smooth ovary,
ending in a short style that divides into two curved stigmas. The
catkins appear in April or May. Although, like most of the Willows, this
species is fond of cold, wet soil in low situations, it is not
restricted to the plains. In Northumberland it is found at 1300 feet
above the sea. Its northward range extends as far as Ross-shire, but it
is a doubtful native in both Scotland and Ireland.
[Illustration: Crack Willow.]
The Bedford Willow (_S. russelliana_) is believed to be a hybrid between
_S. fragilis_ and _S. alba_. It grows to a height of fifty feet, with a
girth of twelve feet. The leaves are more slender than those of _S.
fragilis_, taper to a point at each end, and are very smooth on both
sides. It occurs in swampy woods.
[Illustration: _Pl. 62._ White Willow--summer.]
[Illustration: _Pl. 63._ Flowers of White Willow.]
[Illustration: White Willow.]
The White Willow (_Salix alba_) is so called from the appearance of the
leaves as the light is reflected from their silky surfaces, which are
alike above and below. It is a tree from sixty to eighty feet high, with
a girth of twenty feet, covered with thick and deeply fissured bark. The
leaves are from two to four inches long, of a narrow elliptical shape.
In the typical form the twigs are olive-coloured, but in the variety
_vitellina_ (known as the Golden Willow) these are yellow or reddish. In
the variety _caerulea_ the old leaves become quite smooth above, but
retain the glaucous appearance of the underside. The White Willow is
found as far north as Sutherlandshire, but although it is believed to be
an indigenous species, most of the modern specimens appear to have been
planted. It affords good timber, and the bark is almost equal to that of
Oak for tanning. A great number of the old Willows met with in our
rambles are partially decayed, a condition frequently the result of
lopping large branches, for the wound never heals, and decay setting in
at that point, extends down the bole. Upon such decaying specimens one
may often find one of the most handsome of our native beetles--the
Musk-beetle, with long, slender body and long antennae, all coloured in
dark golden green, and diffusing the aroma of a rose.
[Illustration: _Pl. 64._ Bole of White Willow.]
[Illustration: _Pl. 65._ White Willow--winter.]
[Illustration: _Pl. 66._ Almond-leaved Willow--summer.]
[Illustration: _Pl. 67._ Almond-leaved Willow--winter.]
The Almond-leaved or French Willow (_Salix triandra_) is a small tree
about twenty feet high, distinguished by its bark being thrown off in
flakes. Its slender lance-shaped leaves are smooth green above and
glaucous beneath, two to four inches long, and with half-heart-shaped
stipules. The male flowers offer another distinguishing mark in their
stamens being three in number. Its habitats are the banks of rivers and
streams, and in Osier-beds. It is extensively grown on account of the
long, straight shoots produced from the stump when the tree is cut down,
which are of great use in wicker-work.
The Bay-leaved Willow (_Salix pentandra_) is met with either as a small
upright tree about twenty feet high, or as a shrub eight feet high. Its
oval or elliptical leaves are rich green, smooth and sticky on the upper
surface, and give out a pleasant fragrance like those of the Bay-tree;
they vary from an inch to four inches long, and they may or may not bear
stipules, but if these are present they will be egg-shaped or oblong.
The stamens are normally five in each flower, but they vary up to
twelve. This is reputed to be of all our Willows the latest to flower. A
line drawn through York, Worcester, and North Wales will give roughly
its southward range as a native species. South of that line it has been
planted; north of it to the Scottish border it is a native. It has
been found growing at a height of 1300 feet in Northumberland.
[Illustration: _Pl. 68._ Bay-leaved Willow--summer.]
[Illustration: _Pl. 69._ Bay-leaved Willow--winter.]
[Illustration: _Pl. 70._ Bole of Bay-leaved Willow.]
[Illustration: Sallow.]
The Sallow (_Salix caprea_) is the only other species that can properly
be considered as a tree, as it attains to a height of thirty feet,
though fifteen to twenty feet is a more common measurement. Its usually
egg-shaped leaves vary from almost round to elliptical or lance-shaped,
and from two to four inches in length. In the typical form, which occurs
chiefly in woods, dry pastures, and hedgerows, they are broad, smooth,
and dull-green above, covered with soft white down beneath; the stipules
half-kidney-shaped. This is the earliest of all our Willows to flower,
and the gold (male) and silver (female) catkins are put out before the
leaves. In the country, within a few miles of the larger cities, this
can hardly be a desirable species to plant, for on the Sunday before
Easter thousands who at no other period exhibit any strong religious
tendency journey out to pick some "Palm," as they designate the Sallow
bloom, and the rough pruning the Sallows then get must in many cases be
disastrous. He who imagines that insect life is suspended until spring
is on the verge of summer should visit the woods when the Sallow is in
bloom; he will be astonished at the swarms of bees and moths that are
collecting the abundant pollen or sipping the nectar provided for them.
Before the bright catkins can be seen the locality of the tree may be
known by the loud hum produced by hundreds of pairs of wings. The all
but invariable rule among the Willows--as among Oaks, Beech, Birch,
Hazel, and Pines--is to depend upon the wind for the transfer of pollen
from one tree to the stigmas of another of the same species, but in the
Sallow we find a breaking away from what was doubtless the primitive
arrangement in all flowering plants, by the bribing with honey of more
reliable and less wasteful winged carriers.
The Gray Sallow (_Salix cinerea_) is really a sub-species of _S.
caprea_. It has a liking for moister places than the type, or perhaps it
would be more accurate to say that its growth in moister situations has
brought about the differences by which it is separated from the parent
form. These points are, briefly--the buds and twigs are downy, the
leaves smaller and proportionately narrower, the upper surface downy,
grey-green beneath; the anthers of the male pale yellow, the capsule of
the female smaller.
The Eared Sallow (_S. aurita_) is probably also only another form of _S.
caprea_, distinguished by its small, bushlike proportions (two to four
feet high), long branches and red twigs; its small wrinkled leaves,
which are usually less than two inches long, are of an almost oblong
shape, downy beneath, and with large ear-shaped stipules. Its likeness
is much closer to _S. cinerea_ than to the type; it is fond of damp
copses and moist places on heaths, where it may be found at considerable
elevations. In the Highlands it ascends to 2000 feet.
There are Willows of dwarf habit, some with long straggling branches and
more or less prostrate stems, that grow upon heaths. Each has a name
under which it has at some time or other been ranked as a distinct
species, just as the forms of Bramble and Rose have been. The
differences between them are minute, and of little interest save to the
advanced scientific botanist, who with his dried specimens spread before
him often detects subtle distinctions not apparent to the outdoor
student of the living plant. For the purposes of those for whom this
volume is intended they may be regarded as one.
Dwarf Silky Willow (_Salix repens_). It is a low bush from six to twelve
inches high, the stem lying along the ground. Some of the branches
straggle in the same fashion, but those which bear the flowers are more
or less erect. The leaf-buds and the young leaves are silky, a condition
that usually endures on the lower surface, and in some forms on the
upper also. They are broadly or narrowly lance-shaped, varying in the
different forms alluded to above; in size they range from a half to one
and a half inches in length, and may have lance-shaped stipules, or none
at all. The scales of the catkins are yellowish-green or purple, with
dark tips. After they have shed their pollen the anthers turn black. One
form or other of this species will be found in all parts of the British
Islands where there are heaths or commons; in the Highlands it occurs as
high as 2500 feet.
Another group of small Willows that form bushes (rarely a small tree)
have been united under two species--the Dark-leaved Willow (_Salix
nigricans_), and the Tea-leaved Willow (_Salix phylicifolia_). None of
them occur south of Yorkshire, and the chief distinction between the two
species (?) consists in the leaves of _S. nigricans_ turning black when
being dried for the herbarium, whilst those of _S. phylicifolia_ do not.
[Illustration: Osier.]
The Osier (_Salix viminalis_). Many of the foregoing Willows, when cut
down low and induced to send out long, slender shoots, are known as
Osiers, but only two species are botanically regarded as Osiers--this
and the Purple Osier (_S. purpurea_). The present species may remain as
a shrub or grow into a small tree, thirty feet high, with long, straight
branches, which are silky when young, but afterwards become polished.
The leaves vary in length from four to ten inches, and are slenderly
lance-shaped, tapering to a point in front, and narrowing into the
foot-stalk behind. They have waved margins without teeth, and the upper
surface netted with veins, the under surface silvery and silky; stipules
narrow lance-shaped. The Osier may be seen in Osier-beds and wet places
generally throughout the country as far north as Elgin and Argyll. There
are several varieties and hybrids.
[Illustration: _Pl. 71._ Purple Osier--summer.]
The Purple Osier (_Salix purpurea_). In all the other Willows mentioned
the stamens, whatever their number, all have the filaments distinct from
each other. In this species alone the filaments of the two stamens are
more or less united. The Purple Osier gets its name from the red or
purple bark which clothes the thin but tough twigs. It is a shrub, and
grows from five to ten feet high. The leaves, which are rather thin in
texture, are from three to six inches long, of slender-lance-shape, with
toothed edges, smooth and glaucous on both sides, but especially
beneath, somewhat hairy when young. They are almost opposite on the
twigs, and when dried for the herbarium turn black. There are several
varieties of this shrub, which were formerly honoured with specific
rank.
[Illustration: _Pl. 72._ Purple Osier--winter.]
There remains a group of several small species of very local occurrence,
with which we can do little more here beyond naming them.
The Woolly Willow (_Salix lanata_) is a small shrub, two or three feet
high, with twisted branches, woolly twigs, and hairy black buds. The
broad egg-shaped or oblong leathery leaves are also woolly, and two or
three inches long. There are half-heart-shaped stipules at the base of
the very short leaf-stalk. It is an Alpine plant, and is found about the
mountain rills of Perth, Forfar, Inverness, and Sutherland at elevations
between 2000 and 2500 feet. Conspicuous in spring for its rich golden
catkins. Sadler's Willow (_S. sadleri_), of which only two or three
specimens have been found (in Glen Callater, 2500 feet), is probably a
form of this species.
The Lapland Willow (_Salix lapponum_) is of a similar proportion to the
last-named, sometimes erect, sometimes trailing. Its leaves are more
elliptic in shape, covered above with silky hairs and below with cottony
filaments. In _lanata_ the raised veins form a network pattern; in
_lapponum_ they are straight. The stipules at the base of the long
foot-stalk are small or altogether wanting. Like the preceding species,
it is restricted to Scotch Alpine rocks, at elevations between 2000 and
2700 feet.
The Whortle-leaved Willow (_Salix myrsinites_) is a small, wiry,
creeping, or half-erect shrub, six inches to a foot high, with toothed,
dark glossy leaves, an inch or less in length, whose net-veining shows
on both sides. It is restricted to the Alpine parts of mid-Scotland,
from 1000 to 2700 feet.
The Small Tree-Willow (_Salix arbuscula_) is a small shrub, whose stem
creeps along the ground and roots as it goes, sending up more or less
erect branches a foot or two high. The downy twigs are first yellow,
then reddish-brown. The small leaves vary from egg-shaped to
lance-shaped, and are shining above and glaucous beneath; toothed. In
the Highlands of Aberdeen, Argyll, Dumfries, Forfar, and Perth, between
1000 and 2400 feet.
The Least Willow (_Salix herbacea_) is not so restricted in its range,
for it is found in all parts of the United Kingdom where there are
heights sufficiently Alpine (2000 to 4300 feet) for its tastes. It is
only an inch or two high, and has consequently the distinction of being
the smallest British shrub. It is not so herbaceous as it seems, or as
its name implies, for its shrubby stem and branches creep along
underground, sending up only short, scantly leaved twigs. The curled,
roundish leaves do not exceed half an inch in length; they are
net-veined, toothed, and shining. The catkins appear after the leaves.
The Net-leaved Willow (_Salix reticulata_) is another of the Scotch
Alpines. It is similar in habit to the last-named, but larger, its
buried branches sending up twigs a foot long. The roundish-oblong,
leathery leaves are not toothed; they are smooth above and glaucous
beneath, strongly net-veined on either side. The purplish or yellow
catkins do not develop till after the leaves. It is restricted to the
mountains of Aberdeen, Forfar, Inverness, Perth, and Sutherland.
The Weeping Willow (_Salix babylonica_), so conspicuous an ornament of
riverside lawns, is an introduced species, whose slender branches hang
downwards. It has large, lance-shaped, finely toothed leaves, smooth
above and glaucous beneath. Further description of so well-known a tree
is unnecessary. It attains a height of forty to fifty feet. The name
_babylonica_ was bestowed in the belief that its headquarters were on
the banks of the Euphrates. It is now known to be a native of Japan, and
other parts of Asia.
The name Willow is the Anglo-Saxon _welig_, indicating pliancy,
willingness.
Our Native Conifers.
The British flora is singularly poor in coniferous plants, the Scots
Pine, the Yew, and the Juniper being our only native species, and even
of these some authorities will have it that the Yew is not truly a
Conifer at all; they place it in a separate order--_Taxaceae_. For our
present purpose, however, although the Yew does not produce cones, it
will be convenient to keep it in its old position. The principal feature
distinguishing all Conifers and their allies (_Gymnosperms_) from other
flowering plants (_Angiosperms_) is briefly this: Angiosperms have their
incipient seeds (_ovules_) enclosed in a carpel, through which a shoot
from the pollen grain has to penetrate in order to reach and fertilize
the ovule. In Gymnosperms the carpel takes the form of a leaf or bract,
upon which the naked ovule lies open to actual contact with the pollen
grain. After fertilization the carpel enlarges to protect the seed, and
becomes fleshy or woody, in the latter case a group of carpels forming
the well-known cones of Pine or Fir.
[Illustration: _Pl. 73._ Yew.]
In some of the groups (as the Yew, for example) the male or
pollen-producing flowers are borne by a separate tree from that which
bears the female or cone-producing flowers. In the Pines both sexes are
found on the same tree; but throughout the order the pollen is carried
by the wind. All the species are trees, or shrubs. They are among the
most valuable of timber trees, and, in addition, yield a number of
useful substances, such as pitch, tar, turpentine, etc. The leaves are
always rigid, extremely narrow, and long in proportion: usually of the
form that botanists term linear, with the two sides parallel. In the
Yews these leaves spread out in two rows from opposite sides of the
twigs; in the Pines they are in clusters of two, three, or five, seeming
to be bound together at the base by a wisp of thin skin. The number of
leaves in each bundle is often a help in distinguishing species.
The Yew (_Taxus baccata_) lacks the graceful proportions of most of our
trees, but it has for compensation a most obvious air of strength and
endurance. Who doubts, as he gazes at some sombre Yew in the old
churchyard, the story of the local antiquarian, who tells him the tree
has so stood for 2000 years. He may, perhaps, mildly suggest that
neither the church nor the churchyard was in existence so far back, but
even then the antiquarian will probably have the last word by suggesting
that the grove of Yews of which this formed part was the church of the
past. Thousands see in cathedral aisles the reproduction in stone of the
pine-forest or the beech-wood. Standing before an ancient Yew they may
see whence came the idea for those _clustered_ columns. They actually
exist in the bole of the Yew, which presents the appearance not of a
single trunk, but of several trunks that have coalesced. This condition
is due to the Yew continually pushing out new shoots from the lower
part of its bole, which take an upright direction, and coalesce with the
old wood.
Although the Yew is a large tree, it is by no means a tall tree: the
height of full-grown Yews in this country ranging between fifteen and
fifty feet, though they are said to attain a greater length in India.
The bole of the Yew is short but massive, covered with a thin red bark,
that flakes off in patches much after the manner of Plane-bark. Large
specimens have a girth of from twenty-five to fifty feet--or even more.
Such a circumference represents the growth of many centuries, for the
annual growth-rings are very thin. It is this very slow growth that
produces the hard, compact, and elastic wood that was so highly esteemed
in the days of the long-bow. Not only is the timber elastic and strong,
but it is exceedingly durable, so that it is said, "A post of Yew will
outlast a post of iron." Its branches start from the trunk at only a few
feet from the ground, and, taking an almost horizontal direction, throw
out a great number of leafy twigs, which provide a dense and extensive
shade. These leaves are leathery in texture, curved somewhat after the
manner of a reaping-hook, shiny and dark above, pale and unpolished
below.
[Illustration: Yew. A, male flowers.]
We have already mentioned that the Yew is a di[oe]cious tree--that is,
one whose male and female blossoms are borne on separate trees--but the
statement requires qualification to this extent, that occasionally a
tree will be found bearing a branch or branches whose flowers are of the
sex opposite to those covering the greater part of the tree. The male
catkin is almost round, a quarter of an inch across, and contains about
half a dozen yellow anthers, the base surrounded by dry overlapping
scales. They may be found during February and March, in profusion on the
underside of the boughs. The female flower is much smaller, and consists
of a fleshy disk with a few scales at its base, and on this stands a
single seed-egg. After fertilization of the seed-egg the disk develops
into a red wax-like cup around the enlarging seed with its olive-green
coat. The flesh of the cup is full of sweet mucilage, which makes the
fruit acceptable to children, but the flavour is rather too mawkish to
suit older tastes. Yew-berries are not poisonous, as sometimes supposed;
neither is the contained kernel, which has a pleasant nutty flavour.
Much has been said and written as to the toxic property of Yew-leaves,
and it appears that though cattle and goats may browse upon them with
impunity, horses and human beings pay the penalty of death for such
indulgence. That word toxic, by the way, owes its significance to the
Yew. The tree was named _taxus_ in Latin, from the Greek _toxon_ (a
bow), because of the ancient repute of its wood for making that
instrument. The tree was held to be poisonous, and so its name in the
form of _toxicum_ came to designate all poisons.
[Illustration: _Pl. 74._ Bole of Yew.]
There are some lines in _In Memoriam_ which many readers of Tennyson
have found as obscure as the shade of the Yew where they were conceived.
The poet is addressing a venerable churchyard Yew in these words:--
"Old warder of these buried bones,
And answering now my random stroke
With fruitful cloud and living smoke;
Dark Yew, that graspest at the stones
And dippest towards the dreamless dead,
To thee, too, comes the golden hour,
When flower is feeling after flower."
To any readers who have found a difficulty in understanding these lines,
we would say: visit the Yew groves in February or March, when the male
branches are thickly covered with their yellow flowers, and strike a
branch with your stick. In response to the "random stroke" the pollen
will fly off in a "fruitful cloud" or "living smoke," some of it to be
caught by the minute female blossoms. This is the Yew-tree's "golden
hour, when flower is feeling after flower."