Robert Tyas

[Salix[AA] Nat. Ord.—AmentiferÆ; Linn.—Dioec. Diand.]

[AA] Generic characters. Catkins oblong, imbricated all round, with oblong scales. Perianth none. Stamens 1-5. Fruit a 1-celled follicle with 1-2 glands at its base.

The willow tribes that ever weep,
Hang drooping o'er the glassy-bosom'd wave.
Bidlake.

The Willows are chiefly natives of the colder parts of the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. More than two hundred species of this genus have been described by botanists, of which sixty-six are considered indigenous in this country. These are subdivided into scientific and economic groups. The economic groups are:—for growing as timber-trees, for coppice-wood, for hoops, for basket-rods, for hedges, and for ornamental trees or shrubs.

The Babylonian or Weeping Willow, S. Babylonica, the portrait of which heads this article, is the most picturesque and beautiful tree of this genus. It is a native of Asia, on the banks of the Euphrates, near Babylon, whence its name; and also of China, and other parts of Asia; and of Egypt, and other parts of the north of Africa. It is said to have been introduced into England by the poet Pope, who planted it in his garden at Twickenham, where it was known until about 1800 as "Pope's Willow;" but it was more probably brought to Europe by the botanist Tournefort, before 1700. Of the Weeping Willow, Miller says, "It grows to a considerable size. I have one in my view whilst I am writing, which is four and a half feet in circumference at three feet above the ground, and is at least thirty feet in height; the age is thirty-four years. This tree is remarkable, and generally esteemed for its long slender pendulous branches, which give it a peculiar character, and render it a beautiful object on the margin of streams or pools. The leaves are minutely and sharply serrate, smooth on both sides, glaucous underneath, with the midrib whitish; on short petioles. Stipules, when present, roundish or semilunar, and very small; but more frequently wanting, and then in their stead a glandular dot on each side. Catkins axillary, small, oblong; in the barren the filaments longer than the scale, with two ovate erect glands fastened to the base; the fertile on two-leafed peduncles, scarcely longer than half an inch."

The light airy spray of the Weeping Willow is pendent. The shape of its leaf is conformable to the pensile character of the tree; and its spray, which is lighter than that of the poplar, is more easily put into motion by a breath of air. The Weeping Willow, however, is not adapted to sublime subjects; but the associations which are awakened in conjunction with it, by that very beautiful psalm, "By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered thee, O Sion! as for our harps, we hanged them up upon the Willows,"—are of themselves sufficient to impart to it an interest in every human breast touched by the sublime strains of the Psalmist.

On the Willow thy harp is suspended,
O Salem! its sound shall be free;
And the hour when thy glories were ended,
But left me that token of thee.
And ne'er shall its soft notes be blended,
With the voice of the spoiler by me.
Byron.

Gilpin says we do not employ the Willow to screen the broken buttresses and Gothic windows of an abbey, nor to overshadow the battlements of a ruined castle. These offices it resigns to the oak, whose dignity can support them. The Weeping Willow seeks a humbler scene—some romantic foot-path bridge, which it half conceals, or some glassy pool, over which it hangs its streaming foliage,

—and dips
Its pendent boughs, stooping, as if to drink.

In these situations it appears in character, and to advantage.

No poet ever mentions the Weeping Willow but in connection with sad and melancholy thoughts. Burns, in his "Braes of Yarrow," thus sings:

Take off, take off these bridal weeds,
And crown my careful head with Willow.

Prior alludes to the afflicted daughters of Israel:

Afflicted Israel shall sit weeping down,
Their harps upon the neighbouring Willows hung.

And Dr. Booker refers to the same pathetic scene:

Silent their harps (each cord unstrung)
On pendent Willow branches hung.

The Willow is generally found growing on the borders of small streams or rivers. The Sacred writers almost constantly refer to this natural habit. Thus in Job we read:

The shady trees cover him with their shadows; the Willows of the brook compass him about (xl. 22).

And again, Isaiah, in two places, speaks of its connection with the brook:

And Ezekiel refers to this habit of the Willow:

And in referring to profane authors, we find Milton speaking of

—the rushy-fringed bank
Where grows the Willow.

An anonymous writer, too, mentions

The thirsty Salix bending o'er the stream,
Its boughs as banners waving to the breeze.

The pastoral poet Rowe places his despairing Shepherd under Silken Willows. Thus he sings—(we will give the chorus in the first verse, and not repeat it, as it would occupy too much space):

To the brook and the Willow that heard him complain,
Ah, Willow, Willow;
Poor Colin sat weeping, and told them his pain;
Ah, Willow, Willow; ah, Willow, Willow.
Sweet stream, he cry'd sadly, I'll teach thee to flow,
And the waters shall rise to the brink with my woe.
All restless and painful poor Amoret lies,
And counts the sad moments of time as it flies.
To the nymph my heart loves, ye soft slumbers repair,
Spread your downy wings o'er her, and make her your care.
Dear brook, were thy chance near her pillow to creep,
Perhaps thy soft murmurs might lull her to sleep.
Let me be kept waking, my eyes never close,
So the sleep that I lose brings my fair-one repose.
But if I am doom'd to be wretched indeed;
If the loss of my dear-one, my love is decreed;
If no more my sad heart by those eyes shall be cheered;
If the voice of my warbler no more shall be heard;
Believe me, thou fair-one; thou dear-one believe,
Few sighs to thy loss, and few tears will I give.
One fate to thy Colin and thee shall be ty'd,
And soon lay thy shepherd close by thy cold side.
Then run, gentle brook; and to lose thyself, haste;
Fade thou, too, my Willow; this verse is my last.

Chatterton, in one of his songs, has the following lines:

Mie love ys dedde,
Gon to ys deathe-bedde,
Al under the Wyllowe-tree.

In Ovid we read of

A hollow vale, where watery torrents gush,
Sinks in the plain; the osier, and the rush,
The marshy sedge and bending Willow nod
Their trailing foliage o'er its oozy sod.

And Churchill speaks of

The Willow weeping o'er the fatal wave,
Where many a lover finds a watery grave.

Shakspeare introduces it in Hamlet, where he describes the place of Ophelia's death:

There is a Willow grows ascant the brook,
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;
There with fantastic garlands did she make,
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them:
There on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious silver broke;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook.

The Willows that attain the size of trees of the first and second rank, and that produce valuable timber, are the four following:—The Crack Willow, the Russell Willow, the Huntingdon Willow, and the Goat Willow.

The Crack or Red-wood Willow, S. fragilis, is a tall bushy tree, sometimes growing from eighty to ninety feet in height, with the branches set on obliquely, somewhat crossing each other, not continued in a straight line outwards from the trunk; by which character it may be readily distinguished even in winter. The branches are round, very smooth, "and so brittle at the base, in spring, that with the slightest blow they start from the trunk," whence the name of Crack Willow. Its leaves are ovate-lanceolate, pointed, serrated throughout, very glabrous. Foot-stalks glandular, ovary ovate, abrupt, nearly sessile, glabrous. Bracts oblong, about equal to the stamens and pistils. Stigmas cloven, longer than the style.

The Russell or Bedford Willow, S. Russelliana, is frequently found from eighty to ninety feet in height. It is more handsome than S. fragilis in its mode of growth, as well as altogether of a lighter or brighter hue. The branches are long, straight, and slender, not angular in their insertion, like those of S. fragilis. The leaves are lanceolate, tapering at each end, serrated throughout, and very glabrous. Foot-stalks, glandular or leafy. Ovary tapering; stalked, longer than the bracts. Style as long as the stigma. Dr. Johnson's favourite Willow, at Lichfield, was of this species. In 1781, the trunk of this tree rose to the height of nearly nine feet, and then divided into fifteen large ascending branches, which, in any numerous and crowded subdivisions, spread at the top in a circular form, not unlike the appearance of a shady oak, inclining a little towards the east. The circumference of the trunk at the bottom was nearly sixteen feet; in the middle about twelve feet; and thirteen feet at the top, immediately below the branches. The entire height of the tree was forty-nine feet; and the circumference of the branches, at their extremities, upwards of two hundred feet, overshadowing a plane not far short of four thousand feet. This species was first brought into notice for its valuable properties as a timber-tree, by the late Duke of Bedford; whence its name.

The Huntingdon, or Common White Willow, S. alba, grows rapidly, attaining the height of thirty feet in twelve years, and rising to sixty feet in height, or upwards, even in inferior soils; while, in favourable situations, it will reach the height of eighty feet, or upwards. "The bark is thick and full of cracks. The branches are numerous, spreading widely, silky when young. The leaves are all alternate, on shortish foot-stalks, lanceolate, broadest a little above the middle, pointed, tapering towards each end, regularly and acutely serrated, the lowest serrature most glandular; both sides of a grayish, somewhat glaucous, green, beautifully silky, with close-pressed silvery hairs, very dense and brilliant on the uppermost, or youngest leaves; the lowermost on each branch, like the bracts, are smaller, more obtuse, and greener. Stipules variable, either roundish or oblong, small, often wanting. Catkins on short stalks, with three or four spreading bracts, for the most part coming from the leaves, but a few more often appear after midsummer; they are all cylindrical, rather slender, obtuse, near one and a half inch long. Scales fringed, rounded at the end; those of the barren catkins narrower towards the base; of the fertile, dilated and convolute in that part. Two obtuse glands, one before, the other behind the stamens. Filaments hairy in their lower part. Anthers roundish, yellow. Ovary very nearly sessile, green, smooth, ovate, lanceolate, bluntish, longer than the scale. Style short. Stigmas short, thickish, cloven. Capsule ovate, brown, smooth, rather small."

The Goat Willow, Large-leafed Sallow, or Saugh, S. caprea, is distinguished from all the other Willows by its large ovate, or sometimes orbicular ovate leaves, which are pointed, serrated, and waved on the margin; beneath they are of a pale glaucous colour, and clothed with down, but dark green above; varying in length from two to three inches. Foot-stalks stout, downy. Stipules crescent-shaped. Capsules lanceolate, swelling. Style very short. Buds glabrous. Catkins very thick, oval, numerous, nearly sessile, expanding much earlier than the foliage. The ovary is stalked, silky, and ovate in form; the stigmas are undivided, and nearly sessile. In favourable situations this tree attains a height of from thirty to forty feet, with a trunk from one to two feet in diameter. It seldom, however, possesses any considerable length of clean stem, as the branches which form the head generally begin to divide at a moderate height, and diverging in different directions, give it the bearing and appearance of a compact, round-headed tree. It grows in almost all soils and situations, but prefers dry loams, and in such attains its greatest size.

There are very few existing Willow-trees remarkable for age or size. The one most worthy of note is the Abbot's Willow, at Bury St. Edmunds. It grows on the banks of the Lark, a small river running through the park of John Benjafield, Esq. It is seventy-five feet in height, and the stem is eighteen feet and a half in girth; it then divides in a very picturesque manner into two large limbs, one fifteen and the other twelve feet in girth. It shadows an area of ground two hundred and four feet in diameter, and the tree contains four hundred and forty feet of solid timber.

The uses of the Willow are perhaps equal to those of any other species of our native trees; it is remarked that it supports the banks of rivers, dries marshy soil, supplies bands or withies, feeds a great variety of insects, rejoices bees, yields abundance of fine wood, affords nourishment to cattle with its leaves, and yields a substitute for Jesuit's bark; to which Evelyn adds, all kinds of basket-work, pillboxes, cart saddle-trees, gun-stocks, and half-pikes, harrows, shoemakers' lasts, forks, rakes, ladders, poles for hop vines, small casks and vessels, especially to preserve verjuice in. To which may be added cricket-bats, and numerous other articles where lightness and toughness of wood are desirable. The wood of the Willow has also the property of whetting knives like a whetstone; therefore all knife-boards should be made of this tree in preference to any other.

From the earliest times, the various species of Willow have been made use of by man for forming articles of utility; but as an account of our principal forest-trees is the object of this work, it would be out of place to describe those species which are cultivated for coppice-wood, hoops, basket-rods, or hedges. We may, however, remark that the shields of the ancients were made of wicker work, covered with ox-hides; that the ancient Britons served up their meats in osier baskets or dishes, and that these articles were greatly admired by the Romans.

A basket I by painted Britons wrought,
And now to Rome's imperial city brought.

And for want of proper tools for sawing trees into planks, the Britons and other savages made boats of osiers covered with skins, in which they braved the ocean in quest of plunder:—

The bending Willow into barks they twined,
Then lined the work with spoils of slaughtered kind;
Such are the floats Venetian fishers know,
Where in dull marshes stands the settling Po,
On such to neighbouring Gaul, allured by gain,
The bolder Briton crossed the swelling main.
Rowe's Lucan.