S. daphnoides sensu Brandis, For. Fl. Brit. Ind. 409. 1874; Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 5: 631. 1888; Collet, Fl. Siml. 480. 1902. Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed. 3: 503. 1956: auct. non Villars 1789.

Large shrub or small tree, young branches pubescent, 1-year old glabrous to subglarous. Leaf stipulate, stipule up to 1.3 cm long, semicordate, serrate. Petiole 7-16 mm long, pubescent. Lamina 5-13 x 1.7-5.1 cm, lanceolate, elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, serrate with gland-tipped teeth; when mature, hairy above on the midrib, glabrous beneath. Plant precocious. Male catkins 2.5-4 cm long, nearly sessile, with few small leaves at the base. Rachis villous. Bracts linear-oblanceolate, silky on both the sides, sometimes glabrate on the back, dark brown. Stamens 2, filaments free, usually glabrous. Gland solitary, erect opposite the bract. Female catkin 5-11 cm long on very short leafy shoot. Rachis villous. Bracts c. 2 mm long. Disk half surrounding the base of the ovary. Ovary glabrous, stipe 0.5 mm long, style filiform stigmas diverging, entire or bifid. Fruiting catkin 10-18 cm long. Capsule glabrous; 6-7 mm long, stipe 1 mm long.

Fl. Per.: March-May.

Lectotypes: Simla Herbarium, H. Collett 103 ? (K); Kangagadh, Tehri-Garhwal, 8000 ft, May, 1898, Gamble 26661 ?, ?(K).

Floderus l.c.has cited 14 specimens without indicating the type. However, as he has given the photograph of Collett 103 (K) along with the original publication, I have designated it as the lectotype. But it represents the female plant only, hence Gamble 26661 (K) is also selected.

Distribution: Pakistan (Murree), Kashmir, India (Himachal Predesh Tehri-Garhwal).

As stated by Skvortsov (l.c. 1966: 67), following Andersson, S. daphnoides Vill., which was described from French Alps and distributed in the Central Europe, Baltic region and Southern Scandinavia, was reported from Himalayas by various workers (Hook.f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 5: 631. 1888; Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed. 3: 503. 1956). Floderus (in Geogr. Annalar 17. 311. 1935) however realized that the European material is different from the Himalayan one, which he described as S. dolichostachya Flod. A. K. Skvortsov (l.c. 1969:40) has treated it as a synonym of S. sericocarpa Andersson. However, the differences between the two taxa are quite pronounced. The stamens in S. dolichostachya are free and mostly glabrous and the ovary and capsule are glabrous, whereas in S. sericocarpa the stamens are partly united and hairy at the base and the ovary and fruit are silky pubescent.

F. Zhenfu, Z. Shidong & A. K. Skvortova (l.c. 1999) have treated S. insignis Andersson as an independent species. Earlier A.K.Skvortsov (in Rech. f., Fl. Iran. 65: 40. 1969) had treated it partly as a synonym of S. sericocarpa. In an earlier paper A.K.Skvortsov (in Nov. Syst. Pl. Vasc. 1966: 71) regarded S. insignis Andersson as an ambiguous species. His observations are based on two specimens received from Kew as authentic material. I have seen these specimens at the Kew Herbrium. They do not represent the Type material [“Hab. Kashmir, reg. temp., alt. 6-8000 ft, Thomson (K)], which is also available at Kew. It contains 3 specimens (i) a sterile branch from Foter La, Ladak, collected on 29.9.1848, (ii) a branch with ? catkins, collected on 16.4.1848, a branch with ? catkins collected on 18.4.1848. The catkins are in the early sates of development and need further careful study. Presently, I have followed the interpretation of Skvortsov (in Nov. Syst. Pl. Vasc. 1966: 71) and excluded S. insignis from the present treatment.