Willow - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

Salix, around 400 species of deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

s and shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

s, found primarily on moist soil

Soil

Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...

s in cold and temperate

Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...

regions of the Northern Hemisphere

Northern Hemisphere

The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...

. Most species are known as willow, but some narrow-leaved shrub species are called osier, and some broader-leaved species are referred to as sallow (from Old English sealh, related to the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

word salix, willow). Some willows (particularly arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

and alpine

Alpine climate

Alpine climate is the average weather for a region above the tree line. This climate is also referred to as mountain climate or highland climate....

species) are low-growing or creeping shrubs; for example the Dwarf Willow (Salix herbacea) rarely exceeds 6 cm (2 in) in height, though spreading widely across the ground.

Willows are very cross-fertile, and numerous hybrids occur, both naturally and in cultivation. A well-known ornamental

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

example is the Weeping Willow (Salix × sepulcralis), which is a hybrid of Peking Willow (Salix babylonica) from China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

and White Willow (Salix alba) from Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

Description

Willows all have abundant watery bark

Bark

Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...

, sap

Sap

Sap may refer to:* Plant sap, the fluid transported in xylem cells or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant* Sap , a village in the Dunajská Streda District of Slovakia...

which is heavily charged with salicylic acid

Salicylic acid

Salicylic acid is a monohydroxybenzoic acid, a type of phenolic acid and a beta hydroxy acid. This colorless crystalline organic acid is widely used in organic synthesis and functions as a plant hormone. It is derived from the metabolism of salicin...

, soft, usually pliant, tough wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

, slender branches, and large, fibrous, often stolon

Stolon

In biology, stolons are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external skeletons.-In botany:...

iferous root

Root

In vascular plants, the root is the organ of a plant that typically lies below the surface of the soil. This is not always the case, however, since a root can also be aerial or aerating . Furthermore, a stem normally occurring below ground is not exceptional either...

s. The roots are remarkable for their toughness, size, and tenacity to life, and roots readily grow from aerial parts of the plant.

The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

are typically elongated but may also be round to oval, frequently with a serrated margin. Most species are deciduous

Deciduous

; semi-evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...

willows with coriaceous leaves are rare, e.g. Salix micans and S. australior in the eastern Mediterranean. All the buds are lateral; no absolutely terminal bud is ever formed. The buds are covered by a single scale, enclosing at its base two minute opposite buds, alternately arranged, with two small, opposite, scale-like leaves. This first pair soon fall, and the later leaves are alternately arranged. The leaves are simple, feather-veined, and typically linear-lanceolate. Usually they are serrate, rounded at base, acute or acuminate. The leaf petioles

Petiole (botany)

In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...

are short, the stipule

Stipule

In botany, stipule is a term coined by Linnaeus which refers to outgrowths borne on either side of the base of a leafstalk...

s often very conspicuous, looking like tiny round leaves and sometimes remaining for half the summer. On some species, however, they are small, inconspicuous, and fugacious (soon falling). In color the leaves show a great variety of greens, ranging from yellowish to bluish.

Flowers

Willows are dioecious

Plant sexuality

Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes morphological aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....

with male and female flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

s appearing as catkin

Catkin

A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated but sometimes insect pollinated . They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged closely along a central stem which is often drooping...

s on different plants; the catkins are produced early in the spring, often before the leaves, or as the new leaves open.

The staminate (male) flowers are without either calyx or corolla; they consist simply of stamens, varying in number from two to ten, accompanied by a nectariferous gland and inserted on the base of a scale which is itself borne on the rachis of a drooping raceme called a catkin, or ament. This scale is oval and entire and very hairy. The anthers are rose colored in the bud but orange or purple after the flower opens, they are two-celled and the cells open longitudinally. The filaments are threadlike, usually pale yellow, and often hairy.

The pistillate (female) flowers are also without calyx or corolla; and consist of a single ovary accompanied by a small flat nectar gland and inserted on the base of a scale which is likewise borne on the rachis of a catkin. The ovary is one-celled, the style two-lobed, and the ovules numerous.

Cultivation

Almost all willows take root very readily from cuttings or where broken branches lie on the ground. There are a few exceptions, including the Goat Willow (Salix caprea) and Peachleaf Willow (Salix amygdaloides). One famous example of such growth from cuttings involves the poet Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...

, who begged a twig from a parcel tied with twigs sent from Spain to Lady Suffolk. This twig was planted and thrived, and legend has it that all of England's weeping willows are descended from this first one.

Willows are often planted on the borders of streams so that their interlacing roots may protect the bank against the action of the water. Frequently the roots are much larger than the stem which grows from them.

Ecological issues

Willows are used as food plants by the larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

species–see list of Lepidoptera that feed on willows.

A small number of willow species were widely planted in Australia, notably as erosion

Erosion

Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...

control measures along watercourses. They are now regarded as an invasive weed

Weed

A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...

and many catchment management authorities

Catchment Management Authority

The Catchment Management Authorities were established in Victoria, Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994. Originally known as Catchment and Land Protection Boards, the CMAs were changed to their present name in 1997....

are removing them to be replaced with native trees.

Willow roots grow widespread and are very aggressive in seeking out moisture; for this reason, they can become problematic when planted in residential areas, where the roots are notorious for clogging French drain

French drain

A French drain, blind drain, rubble drain, rock drain, drain tile, perimeter drain, land drain or French ditch is a trench covered with gravel or rock that redirects surface and groundwater away from an area...

s, drainage systems

Drainage system (Agriculture)

An agricultural drainage system is a system by which the water level on or in the soil is controlled to enhance agricultural crop production.-Classification:Figure 1 classifies the various types of drainage systems...

, weeping tile

Weeping tile

A weeping tile is a porous pipe used for underground drainage. The pipe is typically plastic with small slits cut lengthwise into it. It is buried and surrounded by aggregate larger than the slits. The aggregate rocks prevent excessive soil from falling through the slits into the weeping tile...

s, septic systems, storm drain

Storm drain

A storm drain, storm sewer , stormwater drain or drainage well system or simply a drain or drain system is designed to drain excess rain and ground water from paved streets, parking lots, sidewalks, and roofs. Storm drains vary in design from small residential dry wells to large municipal systems...

s, and sewer system

Sanitary sewer

A sanitary sewer is a separate underground carriage system specifically for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings to treatment or disposal. Sanitary sewers serving industrial areas also carry industrial wastewater...

s, particularly older, tile, concrete, or ceramic pipes. Newer, PVC sewer pipes are much less leaky at the joints, and are therefore less susceptible to problems from willow roots; the same is true of water supply

Water supply

Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavours or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes...

piping.

Uses

Medicine. The leaves and bark of the willow tree have been mentioned in ancient texts from Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...

, Sumer
Sumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....

and Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

as a remedy for aches and fever
Fever
Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...

, and the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

physician Hippocrates
Hippocrates
Hippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles , and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine...

wrote about its medicinal properties in the 5th century BC. Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

across the American continent relied on it as a staple of their medical treatments. This is because willows contain salicin, a substance that chemically resembles aspirin. It temporarily relieves headache, stomachache, and other body pain. Salicin is metabolized in to salicylic acid
Salicylic acid
Salicylic acid is a monohydroxybenzoic acid, a type of phenolic acid and a beta hydroxy acid. This colorless crystalline organic acid is widely used in organic synthesis and functions as a plant hormone. It is derived from the metabolism of salicin...

in the human body, which is a precursor of aspirin
Aspirin
Aspirin , also known as acetylsalicylic acid , is a salicylate drug, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains, as an antipyretic to reduce fever, and as an anti-inflammatory medication. It was discovered by Arthur Eichengrun, a chemist with the German company Bayer...

. In 1763 its medicinal properties were observed by the Reverend Edward Stone in England. He notified the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

who published his findings. The active extract of the bark, called salicin, was isolated to its crystalline form in 1828 by Henri Leroux, a French pharmacist, and Raffaele Piria
Raffaele Piria
Raffaele Piria , an Italian chemist from Scilla who converted the substance Salicin into a sugar and a second component, which on oxidation becomes salicylic acid, a major component of an analgesic drug, Aspirin .-References:...

, an Italian chemist, who then succeeded in separating out the compound in its pure state. In 1897 Felix Hoffmann
Felix Hoffmann
Felix Hoffmann was a German chemist, credited for the first synthesized medically useful forms of heroin and aspirin, though some sources maintain that Arthur Eichengrün was the real creator of the latter. Hoffmann was born in Ludwigsburg and studied Chemistry in Munich...

created a synthetically altered version of salicin (in his case derived from the Spiraea
Spiraea
Spiraea , is a genus of about 80-100 species of shrubs in the family Rosaceae, subfamily Spiraeoideae. They are native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with the greatest diversity in eastern Asia....

plant), which caused less digestive upset than pure salicylic acid. The new drug, formally Acetylsalicylic acid, was named Aspirin
Aspirin
Aspirin , also known as acetylsalicylic acid , is a salicylate drug, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains, as an antipyretic to reduce fever, and as an anti-inflammatory medication. It was discovered by Arthur Eichengrun, a chemist with the German company Bayer...

by Hoffmann's employer Bayer AG
Bayer
Bayer AG is a chemical and pharmaceutical company founded in Barmen , Germany in 1863. It is headquartered in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and well known for its original brand of aspirin.-History:...

. This gave rise to the hugely important class of drugs known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, usually abbreviated to NSAIDs or NAIDs, but also referred to as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents/analgesics or nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory medicines , are drugs with analgesic and antipyretic effects and which have, in higher doses, anti-inflammatory...

s (NSAIDs).

Manufacturing. Some of man's earliest manufactured items may have been made from willow. Basic crafts such as baskets
Basket weaving
Basket weaving is the process of weaving unspun vegetable fibres into a basket or other similar form. People and artists who weave baskets are called basketmakers and basket weavers.Basketry is made from a variety of fibrous or pliable materials•anything that will bend and form a shape...

, fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

traps, wattle fence
Fence
A fence is a freestanding structure designed to restrict or prevent movement across a boundary. It is generally distinguished from a wall by the lightness of its construction: a wall is usually restricted to such barriers made from solid brick or concrete, blocking vision as well as passage .Fences...

s and wattle and daub
Wattle and daub
Wattle and daub is a composite building material used for making walls, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw...

house walls were often woven from osiers (rod-like willow shoots). One of the forms of welsh coracle
Coracle
The coracle is a small, lightweight boat of the sort traditionally used in Wales but also in parts of Western and South Western England, Ireland , and Scotland ; the word is also used of similar boats found in India, Vietnam, Iraq and Tibet...

traditionally uses willow in the 'lats'. Thin or split willow rods can be woven into wicker
Wicker
Wicker is hard woven fiber formed into a rigid material, usually used for baskets or furniture. Wicker is often made of material of plant origin, but plastic fibers are also used....

, which also has a long history. The relatively pliable willow is less likely to split while being woven than many other woods, and can be bent around sharp corners in basketry. Willow wood is also used in the manufacture of box
Box
Box describes a variety of containers and receptacles for permanent use as storage, or for temporary use often for transporting contents. The word derives from the Greek πύξος , "box, boxwood"....

es, broom
Broom
A broom is a cleaning tool consisting of stiff fibers attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. It is thus a variety of brush with a long handle. It is commonly used in combination with a dustpan....

s, cricket bat
Cricket bat
A cricket bat is a specialised piece of equipment used by batsmen in the sport of cricket to hit the ball. It is usually made of willow wood. Its use is first mentioned in 1624....

s (grown from certain strains of white willow
White Willow
Salix alba is a species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia. The name derives from the white tone to the undersides of the leaves....

), cradle boards, chair
Chair
A chair is a stable, raised surface used to sit on, commonly for use by one person. Chairs are most often supported by four legs and have a back; however, a chair can have three legs or could have a different shape depending on the criteria of the chair specifications. A chair without a back or...

s and other furniture, doll
Doll
A doll is a model of a human being, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have traditionally been used in magic and religious rituals throughout the world, and traditional dolls made of materials like clay and wood are found in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The earliest documented dolls...

s, flute
Willow flute
The willow flute, also known as sallow flute , is a Scandinavian folk flute, or whistle, consisting of a simple tube with a transverse fipple mouthpiece and no finger holes...

s, poles, sweat lodge
Sweat lodge
The sweat lodge is a ceremonial sauna and is an important event in some North American First Nations or Native American cultures...

s, toy
Toy
A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...

s, turnery, tool handles, veneer
Wood veneer
In woodworking, veneer refers to thin slices of wood, usually thinner than 3 mm , that are typically glued onto core panels to produce flat panels such as doors, tops and panels for cabinets, parquet floors and parts of furniture. They are also used in marquetry...

, wand
Wand
A wand is a thin, straight, hand-held stick of wood, stone, ivory, or metal. Generally, in modern language, wands are ceremonial and/or have associations with magic but there have been other uses, all stemming from the original meaning as a synonym of rod and virge, both of which had a similar...

s and whistle
Whistle
A whistle or call is a simple aerophone, an instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means...

s. In addition tannin
Tannin
A tannin is an astringent, bitter plant polyphenolic compound that binds to and precipitates proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids.The term tannin refers to the use of...

, fibre, paper
Paper
Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

, rope
Rope
A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...

and string, can be produced from the wood.

Food. Poor people at one time often ate willow catkins that had been cooked to form a mash.

Agriculture. Willow bark contains auxin
Auxin
Auxins are a class of plant hormones with some morphogen-like characteristics. Auxins have a cardinal role in coordination of many growth and behavioral processes in the plant's life cycle and are essential for plant body development. Auxins and their role in plant growth were first described by...

s (plant growth hormones), especially those used for rooting new cuttings. The bark can even be used to make a simple extract that will promote cutting growth. Willows produce a modest amount of nectar that bees can make honey from, and are especially valued as a source of early pollen for bees.
Energy. Willow is grown for biomass
Biomass
Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....

or biofuel
Biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...

, in energy forestry
Energy forestry
Energy forestry is a form of forestry in which a fast-growing species of tree or woody shrub is grown specifically to provide biomass or biofuel for heating or power generation....

systems, as a consequence of its high energy in-energy out ratio, large carbon mitigation potential and fast growth. Large scale projects to support willow as an energy crop are already at commercial scale in Sweden, and in other countries there are others being developed through initiatives such as the Willow Biomass Project
Willow Biomass Project
The Willow Biomass Project is a collaborative effort by members of the Salix Consortium to grow willow and other sustainable woody crops in upstate New York. The project, funded through the U.S. Department of Energy's Biomass Power for Rural Development Program, seeks to commercialize willow...

in the US and the Energy Coppice Project in the UK. Willow may also be grown to produce Charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...

.
Environment. As a plant, willow is used for biofiltration, constructed wetland
Constructed wetland
A constructed wetland or wetpark is an artificial wetland, marsh or swamp created as a new or restored habitat for native and migratory wildlife, for anthropogenic discharge such as wastewater, stormwater runoff, or sewage treatment, for land reclamation after mining, refineries, or other...

s, ecological
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...

wastewater
Wastewater
Wastewater is any water that has been adversely affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. It comprises liquid waste discharged by domestic residences, commercial properties, industry, and/or agriculture and can encompass a wide range of potential contaminants and concentrations...

treatment systems, hedge
Hedge
Hedge may refer to:* Hedge or hedgerow, line of closely spaced shrubs planted to act as a barrier* Hedge , investment made to limit loss* Hedge , intentionally non-committal or ambiguous sentence fragments-See also:...

s, land reclamation
Land reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...

, landscaping
Landscaping
Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including:# living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly referred to as gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal of creating a beautiful environment within the landscape.#...

, phytoremediation
Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation Phytoremediation Phytoremediation (from the Ancient Greek , and Latin (restoring balance or remediation) describes the treatment of environmental problems (bioremediation) through the use of plants that mitigate the environmental problem without the need to excavate the...

, streambank stabilisation (bioengineering), slope
Slope
In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a line describes its steepness, incline, or grade. A higher slope value indicates a steeper incline....

stabilisation, soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...

erosion
Erosion
Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...

control, shelterbelt & windbreak
Windbreak
A windbreak or shelterbelt is a plantation usually made up of one or more rows of trees or shrubs planted in such a manner as to provide shelter from the wind and to protect soil from erosion. They are commonly planted around the edges of fields on farms. If designed properly, windbreaks around a...

, soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...

building, soil reclamation, tree bog
Tree bog
A tree bog is a form of outside toilet which has willows, nettles and other nutrient-hungry plants planted around it. The fæces are held in a chamber open to the air which allows it to decompose rapidly, feeding the trees around it. Unlike a conventional compost toilet, a tree bog should never need...

compost toilet, wildlife
Wildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....

habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

.
Art. Willow is used as charcoal (for drawing) and in living sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

s. Living sculptures are created from live willow rods planted in the ground and woven into shapes such as domes and tunnels. Willow stems are used to weave baskets and 3 dimensional sculptures such as animals and figures. Willow stems are also used to create garden features such as decorative panel and obelisks.
Religion. Willow is one of the "Four Species
Four Species
The four species are four plants mentioned in the Torah as being relevant to Sukkot. Karaite Jews build their Sukkot out of branches from the four specified plants , while Talmudic Jews take three types of branches and one type of fruit which are held together and waved in a special ceremony...

" used ritually during the Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

holiday of Sukkot
Sukkot
Sukkot is a Biblical holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei . It is one of the three biblically mandated festivals Shalosh regalim on which Hebrews were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.The holiday lasts seven days...

. In Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

, a willow branch is one of the chief attributes of Kwan Yin, the bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...

of compassion. Willow is also one of the "nine sacred trees" mentioned in Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...

and witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

, with several magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...

al uses. In the Wiccan Rede
Wiccan Rede
The Wiccan Rede is a statement that provides the key moral system in the Neopagan religion of Wicca and other related Witchcraft-based faiths. A common form of the Rede is An it harm none, do what ye will....

, it is described as growing by water, guiding the dead to "The Summerland
The Summerland
The Summerland is the name given by Wiccans and other earth-based Neopagan religions and by Theosophists to their conceptualization of an afterlife.-General overview of Summerland in Neopaganism:...

", a commonly used term in Wicca to refer to the afterlife
Afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...

. Christian churches in northwestern Europe often used willow branches in place of palms in the ceremonies on Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four Canonical Gospels. ....

.

Culture. In China, some people carry willow branches with them on the day of their Tomb Sweeping or Qingming Festival
Qingming Festival
The Qingming Festival , Pure Brightness Festival or Clear Bright Festival, Ancestors Day or Tomb Sweeping Day is a traditional Chinese festival on the 104th day after the winter solstice , usually occurring around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar...

. Willow branches are also put up on gates and/or front doors, which they believe help ward off the evil spirits that wanders on Qingming. Legend states that on Qingming Festival, the ruler of Hades
Hades
Hades , Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs , meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek god of the underworld. The genitive , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative came to designate the abode of the dead.In Greek mythology, Hades...

allows the spirits of the dead to return to earth. Since their presence may not always be welcome, willow branches keep them away. In traditional pictures of the Goddess of Mercy Guanyin she is often shown seated on a rock with a willow-branch in a vase of water at her side. The Goddess employs this mysterious water and the branch for putting demons to flight. Taoist
Taoism
Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...

witches also use a small carving made from willow wood for communicating with the spirits of the dead. The image is sent to the nether world, where the disembodied spirit is deemed to enter it, and give the desired information to surviving relatives on its return. The willow is a famous subject in many East Asian nations' cultures, particularly in pen and ink paintings from China and Japan.

A Gisaeng (Korean Geisha

Geisha

, Geiko or Geigi are traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.-Terms:...

) named Hongrang, who lived in the middle of the Joseon Dynasty

Joseon Dynasty

Joseon , was a Korean state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo at what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was relocated to modern-day Seoul...

, wrote the poem "By the willow in the rain in the evening", which she gave to her parting lover (Choi Gyeong-chang). Hongrang wrote:

"...I will be the willow on your bedside."

In Japanese tradition the willow is associated with ghosts. It is popularly supposed that a ghost will appear where a willow grows. Willow trees are also quite prevalent in folklore and myths. In English folklore, a willow tree is believed to be quite sinister, capable of uprooting itself and stalking travellers. The Viminal hill, one of the Seven Hills Of Rome

Seven hills of Rome

The Seven Hills of Rome east of the river Tiber form the geographical heart of Rome, within the walls of the ancient city.The seven hills are:* Aventine Hill * Caelian Hill...

, derives it name from the Latin word for osier, viminia (pl.).

Literature.
In The Book of Psalms, Psalm 137 — "Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and also cried in our remembering Zion. Upon the willows in the river's midst we hung our lyres." This Psalm is an ancient expression of Jews' yearning to return from the exile (Babylonian) to the Land of Zion.
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories. These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."...

wrote a story called Under the Willow Tree (1853) in which children ask questions of a tree they call willow-father, paired with another entity called elder-mother
Elder Mother
The Elder Mother is an elder-guarding being in English and Scandinavian folklore known by a variety of names, such as the Danish Hyldemoer and the Lincolnshire names Old Lady and Old Girl...

.
The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England...
Algernon Blackwood
Algernon Blackwood
Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE was an English short story writer and novelist, one of the most prolific writers of ghost stories in the history of the genre. He was also a journalist and a broadcasting narrator. S. T...

wrote a story called The Willows
The Willows (story)
"The Willows" is one of Algernon Blackwood's best known short stories. American horror author H.P. Lovecraft considered it to be the finest supernatural tale in English literature. "The Willows" is an example of early modern horror and is connected within the literary tradition of weird...

(1907) about two friends on a canoe trip down the Danube river who have a horrifying experience with the trees. This story was a personal favorite of H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....

.
Green Willow is a Japanese ghost story
Kaidan
Kaidan is a Japanese word consisting of two kanji: 怪 meaning “strange, mysterious, rare or bewitching apparition" and 談 meaning “talk” or “recited narrative.”-Overall meaning and usage:...

in which a young samurai falls in love with a woman called Green Willow who has a close spiritual connection with a willow tree. The Willow Wife is another, not dissimilar tale. Wisdom of the Willow Tree is an Osage Nation
Osage Nation
The Osage Nation is a Native American Siouan-language tribe in the United States that originated in the Ohio River valley in present-day Kentucky. After years of war with invading Iroquois, the Osage migrated west of the Mississippi River to their historic lands in present-day Arkansas, Missouri,...

story in which a young man seeks answers from a Willow tree, addressing the tree in conversation as 'Grandfather'.
In J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling
Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE , better known as J. K. Rowling, is the British author of the Harry Potter fantasy series...

's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. The plot follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, during which a series of messages on the walls on the school's corridors warn that the "Chamber of...

, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. The book was published on 8 July 1999. The novel won the 1999 Whitbread Book Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the 2000 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, and was short-listed for other...

, there is an old tree on the school grounds of Hogwarts
Hogwarts
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or simply Hogwarts is the primary setting for the first six books of the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, with each book lasting the equivalent of one school year. It is a fictional boarding school of magic for witches and wizards between the ages of...

called the "Whomping Willow". It was planted in order to conceal a secret passageway that Professor Remus Lupin roamed through every full moon when he began his transformation into a werewolf.
In William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

's Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

, the character Ophelia climbed a willow tree when a branch broke and dropped her into the river below where she drowned. In Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", Viola (disguised as Cesario) tells Olivia "Make me a willow-cabin at your gate/ And call upon my soul within the house." The willow here being an emblem of forsaken love. In Shakespeare's Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...

, Desdemona's song before her death uses the willow imagery to highlight her lost love.
J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

's The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...

also features a character known as Old Man Willow
Old Man Willow
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Old Man Willow is a fictional character, appearing in The Lord of the Rings. He was a willow tree in the Old Forest from which much of the Forest's hatred of walking things came. He is portrayed in the story as a tree, though a sentient and evil one with various...

which traps some of Frodo
Frodo
Frodo may mean:*Frodo Baggins, a character in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien*"Frodo", a song by New Zealand folk-duo Flight of the Conchords*Fróði, the name of a number of Danish kings, Latinized as Frodo*Frodo...

's companions until they are rescued by Tom Bombadil
Tom Bombadil
Tom Bombadil is a supporting character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. He appears in Tolkien's high fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings, published in 1954 and 1955. In the first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo Baggins and company meet Bombadil in the Old Forest...

.
In Persian literature
Persian literature
Persian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...

, the recognized adjective for 'willow' is lunatic (مجنون), and lover (or lovers' heart) is compared to willow in many texts.
The willow is the symbol of wisdom. This is very clear in Disney's Pocahontas
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...

, in which Pocahontas asks the counsel of grandmother Willow.

Main species

The genus "Salix" is made up of around 400 species of deciduous

Deciduous

tree

Tree

s and shrub

Shrub

Salix acutifolia
Salix acutifolia
Salix acutifolia, also known as long-leaved violet willow, is a shrub in the Salicaceae family....

Willd. – Long-leaved Violet Willow
Salix aegyptiaca L.
Salix alaxensis (Andersson) Coville
Salix alba L. – White Willow
Salix amplexicaulis Bory & Chaub.
Salix amygdaloides Andersson – Peachleaf Willow
Salix ansoniana J. Forbes
Salix apennina A. K. Skvortsov
Salix apoda Trautv.
Salix appendiculata Vill.
Salix arbuscula L.
Salix arctica Pall. – Arctic Willow
Salix argyracea E. L. Wolf
Salix arizonica Dorn
Salix armenorossica A. K. Skvortsov
Salix atrocinerea
Salix atrocinerea
Salix atrocinerea, commonly called grey willow, is a species of willow....

Brot. – Grey Willow
Salix aurita
Salix aurita
Salix aurita is a species of willow distributed over much of Europe, and occasionally cultivated. It is a shrub to 2.5 m in height, distinguished from the similar but slightly larger Salix cinerea by its reddish petioles and young twigs. It was given its name because of the persistent...

L. – Eared Willow
Salix babylonica L. – Babylon Willow or Peking Willow
Salix balfouriana C. K. Schneid.
Salix barclayi Andersson
Salix bebbiana
Salix bebbiana
Salix bebbiana is a species of Willow that is indigenous to Canada and the northern United States, from Alaska and Yukon south to California and Arizona and north-east to Newfoundland and New England...

Sarg. – Beaked Willow, Long-beaked Willow, and Bebb's Willow
Salix bicolor Willd.
Salix bikouensis Y. L. Chou
Salix bonplandiana
Salix bonplandiana
Salix bonplandiana , , is a perennial species of willow tree native to southern and southwest Mexico and extending into central Guatemala; in western Mexico it is a tree of the Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera, but also occurring in other small locales, for example Baja California Sur, northern...

Kunth – Bonpland Willow
Salix boothii
Salix boothii
Salix boothii is a species of willow known by the common name Booth's willow. It is native to western North America from British Columbia and Alberta to California and New Mexico, where it grows in moist mountain habitat, such as riverbanks. It is a shrub which can reach six meters in height...

Dorn – Booth's Willow
Salix brachycarpa Nutt.
Salix breviserrata Flod.
Salix breweri
Salix breweri
Salix breweri is a species of willow known by the common name Brewer's willow. It is endemic to California, where it can be found in the serpentine soils of the Coast Ranges in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a riparian shrub growing one to four meters in height...

Bebb – Brewer's Willow
Salix burqinensis Chang Y. Yang
Salix caesia Vill.
Salix calcicola Fern. & Wieg. – Limestone Willow
Salix calliantha J.Kern.
Salix canariensis
Salix canariensis
Salix canariensis is a species of willow native to the islands of Madeira and Canaries.It is a deciduous small tree, reaching a height of 7 m.-References:...

Chr. Sm.
Salix candida
Salix candida
Salix candida, also known as sageleaf willow, is a shrub in the Salicaceae family found in northern United States and Canada. It is .5 to 3.5 m tall.-External links:**...

Flüggé ex Willd. – Sageleaf Willow
Salix cantabrica Rech. f.
Salix capensis Thunb.
Salix capitata Y. L. Chou & Skvortsov
Salix caprea L. – Goat Willow or Pussy Willow
Salix capusii Franch.
Salix carmanica Bornm.
Salix caroliniana
Salix caroliniana
Salix caroliniana, commonly known as the coastal plain willow, is a shrub or small tree native to the southeastern United States, Mexico and parts of Central America and the Caribbean. It is an obligate wetland species and grows as an emergent species in the Everglades. In the absence of fire, S....

Michx. – Coastal Plain Willow
Salix caspica Pall.
Salix cavaleriei H. Lév.
Salix chaenomeloides
Salix chaenomeloides
Salix chaenomeloides is a species of willow native to Japan, Korea and China.It is a deciduous tree, reaching a height of 10–20 m....

Kimura
Salix cinerea L. – Grey Willow
Salix cordata
Salix cordata
Salix cordata is a perennial shrub that grows tall; plants taller than are rare. The plant is native to the northeast regions of the North American continent; it is found on sand dunes, river banks, and lake shores in sandy, silty or gravelly soils....

Michx. – Sand Dune Willow, Furry Willow, or Heartleaf Willow
Salix delnortensis
Salix delnortensis
Salix delnortensis is a species of willow known by the common name Del Norte willow. It is native to the Klamath Mountains of southern Oregon and northern California, where it grows in serpentine soils in riparian habitat. It is a shrub growing one or two meters tall. It forms thickets, sometimes...

C.K.Schneid. – Del Norte Willow
Salix discolor
Salix discolor
Salix discolor is a species of willow native to North America, one of two species commonly called Pussy Willow.It is native to the northern forests and wetlands of Canada and the northeastern contiguous United States .It is a weak-wooded deciduous shrub or...

Muhl. – American Willow
Salix drummondiana
Salix drummondiana
Salix drummondiana is a species of willow known by the common name Drummond's willow. It is native to western North America from Yukon and the Northwest Territories in the north to California and New Mexico in the south...

Barratt ex Hook. – Drummond's Willow
Salix eastwoodiae
Salix eastwoodiae
Salix eastwoodiae is a species of willow known by the common names Eastwood's willow, mountain willow, and Sierra willow. It is native to the northwestern United States, where it grows in subalpine and alpine climates in mountain habitat such as talus and streambanks.-Description:It is a shrub...

Cockerell ex A.Heller – Eastwood's Willow, Mountain Willow, or Sierra Willow
Salix eriocephala Michx.
Salix excelsa S. G. Gmel.
Salix exigua
Salix exigua
Salix exigua Salix exigua Salix exigua (Sandbar Willow, Narrowleaf Willow, or Coyote Willow; syn. S. argophylla, S. hindsiana, S. interior, S. linearifolia, S. luteosericea, S. malacophylla, S. nevadensis, S...

Nutt. – Sandbar Willow, Narrowleaf Willow, or Coyote Willow
Salix fargesii Burkill
Salix floderusii Nakai
Salix fluviatilis Nutt.
Salix foetida Schleich. ex DC.
Salix fragilis L. – Crack Willow
Salix geyeriana
Salix geyeriana
Salix geyeriana is a species of willow known by the common names Geyer's willow, Geyer willow and silver willow. The type specimen was collected by the botanist Karl Andreas Geyer, for whom it was named...

Andersson – Geyer's Willow
Salix gilgiana
Salix gilgiana
Salix gilgiana is a species of willow native to Japan and Korea.It is a deciduous shrub or small tree, reaching a height of 3–6 m....

Seemen
Salix glabra Scop.
Salix glauca L.
Salix glaucosericea Flod.
Salix gooddingii
Salix gooddingii
Salix gooddingii is a species of willow known by the common name Goodding's willow, or Goodding's black willow. It was named for its collector, Leslie Newton Goodding....

C. R. Ball – Goodding's Willow, or Goodding's Black Willow
Salix gordejevii Y. L. Chang & Skvortsov
Salix graciliglans Nakai
Salix gracilistyla
Salix gracilistyla
Salix gracilistyla is a species of willow native to Japan, Korea and China known in English as Rosegold Pussy Willow.It is a deciduous shrub that reaches a height of 1-6 m.-Varieties:...

Miq.
Salix hastata L.
Salix hegetschweileri Heer
Salix helvetica Vill.
Salix herbacea L. – Dwarf Willow, Least Willow or Snowbed Willow
Salix hookeriana
Salix hookeriana
Salix hookeriana is a species of willow known by the common names dune willow, coastal willow, and Hooker's willow. It is native to the west coast of North America from Alaska to northern California, where it grows in coastal habitat such as beaches, marshes, floodplains, and canyons...

Barratt ex Hook. – Dune Willow, Coastal Willow, or Hooker's Willow
Salix humboldtiana Willd.
Salix humilis Marshall
Salix hylematica C. K. Schneid.
Salix integra
Salix integra
Salix integra is a species of willow native to northeastern China, Japan, Korea and Primorsky Krai in the far southeast of Russia....

Thunb.
Salix irrorata Andersson
Salix japonica
Salix japonica
Salix japonica is a species of willow native to hills and mountains of central Honshū .It is a deciduous shrub, reaching a height of 2 m....

Thunb.
Salix jejuna Fernald – Barrens Willow
Salix jepsonii
Salix jepsonii
Salix jepsonii is a species of willow known by the common name Jepson's willow. It is native to southernmost slopes of the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada in California, where its distribution extends just into western Nevada...

C.K.Schneid. – Jepson's Willow
Salix jessoensis
Salix jessoensis
Salix jessoensis is a species of willow native to Japan.It is a deciduous tree, reaching a height of 15–20 m....

Seemen
Salix koreensis Andersson
Salix koriyanagi
Salix koriyanagi
Salix koriyanagi is a species of willow native to Korea.Salix koriyanagi can reach a height of 2–3 m. It is cultivated for making baskets and furniture....

Kimura ex Goerz
Salix laevigata
Salix laevigata
Salix laevigata , is a perennial species of willow native to Pacific Coastal California and northern Baja California; it occurs in other southwestern United States locales, most prominently in Arizona and southwest Utah.The Red Willow is a small tree up to 45 feet in height.-Distribution:Most of...

Bebb – Red Willow or Polished Willow
Salix lanata
Salix lanata
Salix lanata, the common name is Wooly Willow, is a species of willow native to tundra regions over much of the Circumboreal Region.-Description:...

L. – Woolly Willow
Salix lapponum L.
Salix lasiolepis
Salix lasiolepis
Salix lasiolepis is a species of willow native to western and southwestern North America, in the United States from central and southern Washington and southwestern Idaho south to California and Texas, and in Mexico from the Baja California peninsula east to Coahuila and south to Jalisco. The name...

Benth. – Arroyo Willow
Salix lemmonii
Salix lemmonii
Salix lemmonii is a species of willow known by the common name Lemmon's willow. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California to Colorado, where it grows in moist and wet areas in mountain coniferous forest habitat, such as streambanks and meadows.-Description:Salix...

Bebb – Lemmon's Willow
Salix ligulifolia
Salix ligulifolia
Salix ligulifolia is a species of willow known by the common name strapleaf willow. It is native to the western United States. It grows in moist and wet habitat, such as riverbanks, swamps, and floodplains, such as in the Sierra Nevada in California....

C.R.Ball – Strapleaf Willow
Salix linearistipularis (Franch.) K. S. Hao
Salix longiflora Andersson
Salix longistamina Z. Wang & P. Y. Fu
Salix lucida
Salix lucida
Salix lucida is a species of willow native to northern and western North America, occurring in wetland habitats....

Muhl. – Shining Willow, Pacific Willow, or Whiplash Willow
Salix lutea
Salix lutea
Salix lutea is a species of willow known by the common name yellow willow. It is native to North America, including central Canada and parts of the western and central United States, with the exception of the Great Basin. It can be found in moist and wet habitat types, such as riverbanks, meadows,...

Nutt. – Yellow Willow
Salix magnifica
Salix magnifica
Salix magnifica is a species of willow in the family Salicaceae. It is endemic to Sichuan in southwestern China, where it grows at high altitudes of 2,100–3,000 m. It is threatened by habitat loss.It is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 6 m tall...

Hemsl.
Salix matsudana Koidz. – Chinese Willow
Salix maximowiczii Kom.
Salix medwedewii Dode
Salix melanopsis
Salix melanopsis
Salix melanopsis is a species of willow known by the common name dusky willow. It is native to western North America from British Columbia and Alberta to California and Colorado, where it grows in many types of moist and wet habitat, such as riverbanks and subalpine mountain meadows, on rocky and...

Nutt. – Dusky Willow
Salix microstachya Turcz.
Salix mielichhoferi Saut.
Salix miyabeana
Salix miyabeana
Salix miyabeana is a species of willow native to northern Japan.It is a deciduous shrub or small tree, reaching a height of 6–7 m....

Seemen
Salix moupinensis Franch.
Salix mucronata
Salix mucronata
Salix mucronata is a tall, graceful, evergreen Willow tree. It grows along riverbanks in South Africa and is used for a wide range of traditional medicines....

- Cape Silver Willow
Salix muscina Dode ex Flod.
Salix myricoides Muhl.
Salix myrsinifolia
Salix myrsinifolia
Salix myrsinifolia is a species of willow native to Europe and Western Siberia. It forms a 2–5 m high shrub. In the north it becomes often a tree up to 8 m tall....

Salisb.
Salix myrsinites L.
Salix myrtilloides L. – Swamp Willow
Salix neowilsonii W. P. Fang
Salix nigra Marshall – Black Willow
Salix nivalis Hook.
Salix orestera
Salix orestera
Salix orestera is a species of willow known by the common name Sierra willow, or gray-leafed Sierra willow. It is native to the Sierra Nevada of California and western Nevada, where it grows in moist areas in high mountain subalpine and alpine climates...

C.K.Schneid. – Sierra Willow or Gray-leafed Sierra Willow
Salix paraplesia C. K. Schneid.
Salix pauciflora Koidz.
Salix pedicellata Desf.
Salix pellita Andersson
Salix pentandra L. – Bay Willow
Salix petiolaris Sm.
Salix phlebophylla Andersson
Salix phylicifolia
Salix phylicifolia
Salix phylicifolia is a species of willow native to Europe, the Faroe Islands, Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, and Western Siberia.-External links:*...

L.
Salix planifolia
Salix planifolia
Salix planifolia is a species of willow known by the common names diamondleaf willow and tea-leafed willow. It is native to northern and western North America, including most all of Canada, Alaska, and the western United States...

Pursh. – Diamondleaf Willow or Tea-leafed Willow
Salix polaris Wahlenb. – Polar Willow
Salix prolixa
Salix prolixa
Salix prolixa is a species of willow known by the common name MacKenzie's willow. It is native to western North America from Alaska and northwestern Canada to the high mountains of California and Utah. It grows in moist habitat such as riverbanks, springs, and marshes. It is a shrub growing 1 to 5...

Andersson – MacKenzie's Willow
Salix purpurea L. – Purple Willow or Purple Osier
Salix pyrenaica Gouan
Salix pyrifolia Andersson
Salix pyrolifolia Ledeb.
Salix rehderiana C. K. Schneid.
Salix repens L.
Salix reptans Rupr.
Salix reticulata
Salix reticulata
Salix reticulata, the Net-leaved Willow, is a dwarf willow, occurring in the colder parts of Northern Europe, Greenland, North America and Northern Asia...

L. – Net-veined Willow
Salix retusa L.
Salix retusoides J.Kern.
Salix rorida
Salix rorida
Salix rorida is a species of willow native to Japan, northern China, Korea and the Russian Far East.It is a deciduous tree, reaching a height of 10 m....

Lacksch.
Salix rosmarinifolia L.
Salix sajanensis Nasarow
Salix salviifolia Brot.
Salix schwerinii
Salix schwerinii
Salix schwerinii is a species of willow native to Northeastern Asia . It is a shrub or a tree up to 10-15 m high with long and exceptionally narrow leaves, similar and closely related to Salix viminalis....

E. L. Wolf
Salix scouleriana
Salix scouleriana
Salix scouleriana Salix scouleriana Salix scouleriana (Scouler's Willow; syn. S. brachystachys Benth., S. capreoides Anderss., S. flavescens Nutt., S. nuttallii Sarg., S...

Barratt ex Hook. – Scouler's Willow
Salix sericea
Salix sericea
Salix sericea, also known as silky willow, is a shrub in the Salicaceae family that grows in swamps and along rivers in eastern United States and Canada...

Marshall – Silky Willow
Salix serissima (L. H. Bailey) Fernald
Salix serpyllifolia Scop.
Salix sessilifolia
Salix sessilifolia
Salix sessilifolia is a species of willow known by the common name northwest sandbar willow. It is native to the west coast of North America from British Columbia to northern California, where it grows on sandy and gravelly riverbanks, floodplains, and sandbars...

Nutt. – Northwest Sandbar Willow
Salix sitchensis
Salix sitchensis
Salix sitchensis is a species of willow known by the common name Sitka willow. It is native to northwestern North America from Alaska to northern California to Montana. It is a common to abundant plant in many types of coastal and inland wetland habitat, such as marshes, riverbanks, swamps, coastal...

C. A. Sanson ex Bong. – Sitka Willow
Salix siuzevii Seemen
Salix starkeana Willd.
Salix subopposita
Salix subopposita
Salix subopposita is a species of willow native to southern Japan and Quelpaert Island in South Korea.It is a deciduous small shrub....

Miq.
Salix subserrata Willd.
Salix suchowensis W. C. Cheng
Salix sungkianica Y. L. Chou & Skvortsov
Salix taxifolia
Salix taxifolia
Salix taxifolia is a species of willow native to all of southern Mexico, also Pacific Coast regions, north to Sinaloa, and in the south Pacific Coast of Mexico into central Guatemala....

Kunth – Yew-leaf Willow
Salix tenuijulis Ledeb.
Salix tetrasperma
Salix tetrasperma
Salix tetrasperma, commonly called Indian willow, is a medium sized tree of wet and swampy places, shedding the leaves at the end of monsoon season. It flowers after leafing. The bark is rough, with deep, vertical fissures and the young shoots leaves are silky. The leaves are lance-like, or...

Roxb. – Indian Willow
Salix triandra
Salix triandra
Salix triandra is a species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia, from southeastern England east to Lake Baikal, and south to Spain and the Caucasus and Alborz mountains...

L. – Almond Willow or Almond-leaved Willow
Salix turanica Nasarow
Salix turfacea G. Haller ex Münchh.
Salix udensis
Salix udensis
Salix udensis is a species of willow native to northeastern Asia, in eastern Siberia , northeastern China, and northern Japan....

Trautv. & C. A. Mey.
Salix uva-ursi Pursh. – Bearberry Willow
Salix variegata Franch.
Salix vestita Pursh. – Silky Willow
Salix viminalis L. – Common Osier
Salix vulpina
Salix vulpina
Salix vulpina is a species of willow native to Japan and southern Kuriles .It is a deciduous shrub, reaching a height of 2 m....

Andersson
Salix waldsteiniana Willd.
Salix wallichiana Andersson
Salix wilhelmsiana M. Bieb.
Salix wilsonii Seemen
Salix yezoalpina
Salix yezoalpina
Salix yezoalpina is a species of willow native to alpine slopes of Hokkaidō, Japan.It is a deciduous low shrub....

Koidz.

External links

Salix alba at plants for a future
Salix purpurea at plants for a future
1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica
Salix caroliniana images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
Salix nigra images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
Weeping Willow - Salix alba Diagnostic photos, Morton Arboretum
Morton Arboretum
The Morton Arboretum, in Lisle, Illinois, covers 1,700 acres and is made up of gardens of various plant types and collections of trees from specific taxonomical and geographical areas. It includes native woodlands and a restored Illinois prairie. The Arboretum has over 4,100 different species of...

specimens
Willow Cuttings

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Description

Flowers

Cultivation

Ecological issues

Uses

Main species

See also

External links