Salix Salix, L.

2. S. fragilis L. View in CoL , Sp. Pl. 1017 (1753).

Tree up to 25 m, often pollarded. Bark greyish, becoming fissured but not flaking off. Twigs glabrous and olive, very fragile at the junctions. Leaves 6-15 x 1-5—4 cm, lanceolate, usually 4^-9 times as long as wide, long-acuminate, usually asymmetrical at apex, cuneate at base, rather coarsely serrate, glabrous and shiny above, with a glaucous bloom or, less often, paler green beneath; petiole with 2 glands at the top. Stipules usually caducous. Catkins 3-7 cm, appearing with the leaves, drooping, rather dense, cylindrical. Stamens 2, free; anthers yellow. Female flowers usually with 2 nectaries. 2n = 76. Most o f Europe except the Arctic; local in the Mediterranean region. Au Be Br Bu Co Cz D a G a Ge G r Hb He H o Hs Hu It Ju Lu No Po Rm Rs (N, B, C, W, K, E) Sa Si Su?Tu [Az BI Fe].

5. alba x fragilis (S. x rubens Schrank ) is probably the most frequent of all Salix hybrids. It often resembles 2, from which it differs, inter alia, in the silky pubescence of the young leaves, and the narrower, more gradually tapering leaves. It is commoner and more widespread than pure S. fragilis and more frequently cultivated.

Several derivatives of this hybrid, some of them of garden origin , are naturalized in Britain. They are distinguished from each other chiefly by leaf-characters and by the length of catkins and ovaries. One of them, S. x basfordiana Scaling, is readily identified by its glossy orange-yellow twigs, bright green tapering leaves 10-15 x 1-5-2 cm, with finely but sharply serrate margins; long drooping catkins 5-10 cm; and ovary 2 mm, shortly pedicellate, exceeding the sparsely hairy bract.

S. excelsa S. G. Gmelin , Reise Russi. 3: 308 (1774) is very like S. alba x fragilis but has stouter catkins, and broader, often slightly brownish, not bearded bracts.