Salix × subalpina Forbes

This, a hybrid between S. elaeagnos and S. repens, is said by Forbes (Salictum Woburnense, t. 93) to have been introduced from Switzerland. It is a low shrub of rather neat habit, branches ascending, downy, and retaining their down till the second year. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, usually tapered about equally at each end, 1 to 21⁄2 in. long, 1⁄4 to 5⁄8 in. wide, margins decurved; not or very slightly toothed towards the apex, bright green and downy (especially at first) above, permanently grey and woolly beneath; stalk 1⁄6 in. or less long. In his original description Forbes mentions having only seen the male. Catkins 1 to 11⁄4 in. long, slender, yellow.

As remarked in previous editions, the plants cultivated at Kew and Cambridge were also male; most probably they originated by vegetative propagation from the Woburn plant. But Forbes’ name is accepted as the valid one for hybrids between S. elaeagnos and S. repens, which occur occasionally in the wild.