willothewisp (wilothewisp)

1. The ignis fatuus; hence, any person or thing that deludes or misleads by dazzling, visionary, or evanescent appearances. Also will - in - the - wisp, will- with - a - wisp, and Jack o ' lantern. All this hide and seek, this will- in - the -wisp, has no other meaning than a Christian marriage for sweet Mrs. Be linda. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, v. &. Wicked sea- will -o'- the - wisp ! Wolf of the shore! dog, with thy lying lights Thou hast betray'd us on these rocks of thine! Tennyson, Harold, ii. 1. 2. A common fresh-water alga, Nostoc com mune: so named from its sudden and seem ingly mysterious appearance. See Nostoc. willow1 (wil'ō), n. and a. [Also dial. willy; IMG:content-2387.jpg:[graphic] IMG:content-2388.png:[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small] low, white willow ), or for their wood ( crack willow, white willow ), or for their bark, which in northern Europe is esteemed equal to oak-bark for tanning. Many are excellent for fixing loose sands, some serve for hedges, while several are highly ornamental. A few plants with some similarity to the willow have borrowed its name. See osier, sallow, and the phrases below. Now wylous , bu hes, bromes, thing that eseth Let plannte. Palladius , Husbondrie (E. E. Т. 8.), p. 81. 2. The wood of the willow; hence, in base - ball and cricket, the bat. - Almond or almond-leafed willow, a moderate-sized tree, Salix amygdalin a, found in wet grounds in the northern Old World, having the leaves white, but not silky beneath. It is much cultivated for basket-making. Also French willow. Babylonian willow (of Psalm cxxxvii.), probably a species of poplar, Populus Euphratica. The weeping willow was willow once supposed to be the tree, fancy a ociating its pendulous branches with the hanging of the harps. The oleander is sometimes selected as the tree. Compare weeping willow. - Bay willow. (a) Salix pentandra, a shrub or small tree of Europe and temperate Asia, having broadly ovate or oblong leaves, which are thick, smooth, and shining, rendering it highly ornamental. (b) See willow - herb. - Bedford willow. See crack willow. Bitter willow. See purple willow. - Black willow. (a) A tree of moderate size, Salix nigra, widely distributed in North America, commonly found bending over watercourses. The wood is of little value; the bark contains salicylic acid, and is a popular domestic febrifuge. See cut on preceding page. (b) The variety Scouleriana of Salix flavescens, found on the western coast of North America, a small tree with the wood light, hard, strong, and tough. (c) Same as bay willow (a). [Local, Eng.]Brittle willow. Same as crack willow. - Crack willow, a tall handsome tree, Salix fragilis, so called because the twigs break easily from the branches. It is native in Eu. rope and Asia, and is often cultivated, affording, with the closely related white willow, the best willow-timber. A hybrid, S. Ru el i an a, of this and the white willow is the Bedford or Leicester willow, whose bark is said to contain more tannin than oak-bark, and more salicin than most of the genus. -Desert willow, a small tree of willow-like habit, Chilopsis saligna, of the Big non i aceæ, found in arid regions in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The flowers, borne in terminal racemes, have a funnel-form corolla swollen out above, an inch or two long, colored white and purplish; the pods resemble those of Catalpa.-Diamond willow, a form of the heart-leafed willow (see below) growing on the banks of the Mi ouri and Yellow stone rivers, having remarkable diamond shaped scars due to the arrest of wood-growth at the base of atrophied twigs. It is made into unique canes. Dwarf gray willow. Same as sage- willow. French willow. Same as almond willow. (b) See willow - herb. -Glaucous willow, the pu y-willow. -Glo y willow. Same as shining willow. - Goat willow, the great sallow, Salix caprea. See sallowl. - Golden willow or osier. See white willow. Ground willow, Salix arctic a, and per haps other dwarf northern species. See Salix. - Heart leafed willow, Salix cordata, the most widely distributed and variable American willow, a tall shrub with the leaves narrow but heart-shaped at the base. A variety, S. vestita, is the diamond willow (see above). - Hedge willow, the sallow, Salix caprea. - Hoop willow. Same as ring wil low. -Huntington willow, the white willow. LeicesSame as sandbar willow Osier willow-leste osier, also ter willow, the crack willow. Long-leafed willow. almond willow, purple willow, white willow. - Persian willow. See willow -herb. - Prairie willow, a grayish shrub, Salix humilis, related to the sage-willow, growing States. Primrose willow. See Ju ia. Purple wil 3 to 8 feet high, common on dry plains, etc., in the United low, a shrub or small tree, Salix purpure a, found through Europe and temperate Asia. Also called bitter, rose, and whipcord willow. Its bark is rich in salicin, and so bitter that it is not gnawed by animals; hence this willow is specially recommended for game-proof hedges. It is at the same time one of the best osier willows. - Pu y willow. See pu y - willow. -Ring or ring-leafed wilvariety of the weeping willow with the leaves curled into rings. Rose willow. See purple willows Rosebay willow. See willow - herb. - Sage willow. See sage- willow. - Sallow willow, the common sallow, Salix caprea. Sandbar willow, Salix long i folia, a small tree often forming dense clumps of great beauty on river sandbars and banks. It is very common throughout the Mi i ippi basin, and reaches its greatest development in northern California and Oregon. - Shining willow, a river bank shrub or small tree, Salix lucid a, of North America, closely allied to the bay willow of Europe, the leaves with a long tapering point, smooth and shining on both sides. It is among the most beautiful of willows, and is becoming popular in cultivation.-Silky willow. (a) The white willow. ( b ) Salix Sitchensis, a low much-branched tree of the Pacific coast from California northward. - Swamp willow, the pu y-willow. - Sweet willow, the sweet gale, Myrica Gale; also, the bay willow. Britten and Hol land. [Prov. Eng.] - To wear the willow, to put on the trappings of woe for a lost lover. Tell him, in hope he'll prove a widower shortly, I'll wear the willow garland for his sake. Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iii. 3. 228. Virginia or Virgin i an willow. See Itea. - Water willow. See water - willow. - Weeping willow, a large tree, Salix Babylonica, distinguished by its very long and slender pendulous branches, a native, not of Babylon, but of eastern Asia, now common in cultivation in Europe and America. Only the female plant is known in western countries, but it spreads to some extent by the drifting and rooting of its broken branches. It is considered an emblem of mourning, and is often planted in graveyards. The Kilmarnock weeping willow is a remarkable variety of the common sallow. There is an American weeping willow sold in nurseries, which is a partly pendulous form of the European purple willow. - Whipcord willow. See pur ple willow White willow, Salix alba, otherwise called cultivated species, a fine tree becoming from 50 to 80 feet Huntington and silky willow, the most common high, the leaves ashy-gray or silky-white on both sides. Its wood is smooth, light, soft, tough, and not subject to splintering, and is used for a great variety of purposes. It makes a good gunpowder charcoal, for which purpose it is grown in New Jersey and Delaware. The typical form is the variety S. cærule a, or blue willow. The variety S. vitel lin a, the golden willow or osier, with yellow twigs, is largely grown for basket-making. - Whortle willow, Salix Myrsinites, a low, sometimes closely procumbent shrub, under a foot high, with small round, ovate, or lanceolate leaves, found in the mountains of the northern Old World. Willow scale. See scalel. - Willow span-worm, one of a number of geometrid larvæ which feed upon willow, as the pink-striped, the larva of Deilinia variolar i a of the United States. - Willow tu ock-moth, a North American tu ock-moth, Orgyia def in it a, whose larva seems to feed only on willow - a peculiar fact, since other tu ock-moth larvæ are rather general feeders. - Yellow wil low, the variety vitellin a of Salix alba. See white willow, above. IMG:content-2389.png:[blocks in formation]