A small willow of acid heath and bog margins whose upright forms have leaves silky-silvery beneath, but whose creeping forms are almost hairless
Creeping willow — Salix repens.
Nature · Shrubs
Creeping willow
Native · low shrub, to 2 m in upright forms · heath, bog margins and dune slacks
Salix repens — Salicaceae
Creeping willow is a small, variable willow of acid heath, bog margins and wet dunes, with silky-silvery leaves on its more upright forms and almost hairless leaves on its prostrate ones. It grows in scattered places across Britain, and its variability makes it a byword for the difficulty of willow identification. It flowers with its leaves emerging, unlike the large sallows.
How to spot them
- ▸Low shrub with slender stems, prostrate and creeping in some forms and ascending to about 2 m in others
- ▸Small, oval to narrow leaves with a smooth or slightly wavy edge; the upright forms have densely silky-haired, silvery undersides
- ▸Small, short catkins in spring on short leafy stalks, male and female on separate plants
- ▸Damp heath, bog margins, cliff ledges, lake shores and dune slacks on acid or sandy ground
- ▸Look-alikes: eared willow has larger, wrinkled leaves and prominent ear-like stipules; dwarf willow is a far smaller mountain plant; silky underside of leaf with appressed hairs points to creeping willow
How to know it
It is one of the most variable British willows, so a plant on exposed high ground can look like a stunted eared willow
Creeping willow.
An 'appressed, silky' covering on the underside of the leaf shows in its hybrids and helps to identify them
Creeping willow — Salix repens.
A willow that ranges from a mat on a lake shore to a shrub about 2 metres tall, and that also grows in damp dune hollows
Creeping willow.
Its species name is Latin for 'creeping'
Creeping willow — Salix repens.
Quick-fire facts
- •Salix repens, family Salicaceae; repens is Latin for creeping
- •A polymorphic willow: prostrate forms soon lose their hairs, while ascending forms with densely silky leaves reach about 2 m (BSBI)
- •Occurs on acid ground including heath, bog margins, cliff ledges and rocky lake shores; native and widely scattered in Britain and Ireland (BSBI)
- •In exposed uplands it can resemble a stunted eared willow (Salix aurita), so the leaves must be checked for wrinkled (rugose) surfaces (BSBI)
- •Genuine hybrids inherit the appressed, silky hairs beneath the leaf (BSBI plant crib)
- •Willows are dioecious, with male and female catkins on separate plants
- •Best identified from July to September, when foliage is fully expanded (BSBI)
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Sources
- Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland — Salix repens L., Creeping Willow
- Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland — Salix, Willows