Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/671

 "WILLOW The weeping willow (S. Babylonicd), a na- tive of Asia and northern Africa, ia supposed to have been introduced into Europe by Tournefort from the Levant in 1702. Being so frequently planted, its long, slender, pendu- WILMINGTON 647 Herb-like Willow (Salix herbacea). lous branches and linear-lanceolate leaves are very familiar ; only the pistillate sex has been introduced into this country. It grows to a large size, is one of the first trees to leaf out in spring, and holds its foliage until the killing frosts. A curious variety (var. annularis) has its leaves coiled into a ring, and is called the ring-leaved or hoop willow. The American weeping willow of the nurseries is a partly pendulous form of the European purple willow (S. purpurea), and needs much training to keep it in shape. The Kilmarnock weeping willow is a remarkable variety of the Euro- pean sallow willow (S. caprea), the branches of which are sharply reflexed ; when grafted 7 or 8 ft. high on other species, it makes an in- teresting lawn tree. The most beautiful of the genus is the native shining willow (S. luci- da), which grows from Pennsylvania north- ward, and in British America from ocean to ocean ; in cultivation it grows to 15 or 20 ft. high, but in the wild state it flowers when only 3 ft., forming a handsome head with dark green branches; the leaves, 3 to 5 in. long, have a long tapering point and are smooth and shining on both sides ; the flowers appear on short leafy branches. This is becoming de- servedly popular as an ornamental tree, and is so much like the bay willow (S. pentandra) of Europe, that some botanists consider them the same. There are several prostrate alpine species, some of which are found on our higher mountains; among them is the inter- esting herb-like willow (S. herbacea), which, in marked contrast with the lofty white and weeping species, rarely reaches 2 in. in height, and bears disproportionately large catkins. WILLIGHBY, Francis, an English naturalist, born at Wollaton, Nottinghamshire, in 1636, died there, July 3, 1672. He graduated at Cambridge in 1656, and while there was the pupil of John Ray, with whom he afterward travelled through France, Spain, Italy, Ger- many, and the Low Countries, Ray examining the plants and Willughby the animals of each country. Ray published Willughby's "Orni- thology" (fol., 1676) and "Ichthyology" (1686). They are of great value even yet for their ac- curate descriptions of species. WILMINGTON, a city and port of entry of New Castle co., Delaware, the chief city of the state, at the confluence of Christiana and Brandywine creeks, 28 m. S. W. of Philadel- phia; pop. in 1850, 13,979; in 1860, 21,258; in 1870, 30,841, of whom 5,152 were foreign- ers and 3,211 colored; in 1875, 39,750, or, including suburbs, about 42,500. The city is built principally upon the hilly ground be- tween the creeks, which rises gradually from them on three sides to a height near the N. W. boundary of 243 ft. above tide water. The junction of the Christiana and Brandywine is about one mile above their united entrance into the Delaware, and half a mile below the built portion of the city, but within its boun- daries, which now extend to the shore of the The Old Swedes Church. Delaware as well as beyond the other streams. The city is regularly laid out, with streets at right angles, the principal ones paved with stone, and all lined with brick sidewalks. The