The smallest willow in Britain, a creeping mat with round glossy leaves that lies under late snow on mountain tops
Dwarf willow — Salix herbacea.
Nature · Shrubs
Dwarf willow
Native · prostrate mat, aerial shoots 5–10 cm · high mountain snow-beds
Salix herbacea — Salicaceae
Dwarf willow, or least willow, is the smallest willow in Britain and Ireland, a creeping mat whose leafy shoots rise only a few centimetres above the ground. It lives on windswept summits, screes and late snow-beds in the Scottish Highlands and the northern and Welsh uplands, mostly above 600 m and up to 1,310 m on Ben Nevis. It is an arctic-alpine relict of the tundra that covered Britain after the Ice Age.
How to spot them
- ▸Tiny prostrate shrub, with underground rhizomes and leafy shoots only 5 to 10 cm high
- ▸Small, rounded, glossy, finely toothed leaves with a notched tip and a netted pattern of veins
- ▸Short, few-flowered, erect catkins, male and female on separate plants
- ▸Open, exposed ground: windswept summits, ridges, screes, and late snow-lie hollows on high mountains
- ▸Look-alikes: creeping willow has narrower, silky-haired leaves on lower ground; dwarf birch has toothed round leaves on woody twigs on peat
How to know it
It grows from near sea level in Shetland to 1,310 metres on Ben Nevis, though most records lie above 600 metres
Dwarf willow.
Its tiny leafy shoots rise only 5 to 10 centimetres, and it is dioecious like other willows
Dwarf willow — sometimes billed as the world's smallest tree.
An arctic-alpine plant of windswept ridges and snow-beds, a relict of the tundra that followed the Ice Age
Dwarf willow, or least willow.
Rated Least Concern in Great Britain as a whole, but Near Threatened in Wales and Ireland
Dwarf willow.
Its species name means 'herb-like', because it looks like a small herbaceous plant
Dwarf willow — Salix herbacea.
Quick-fire facts
- •Salix herbacea, family Salicaceae; herbacea means herb-like
- •The smallest willow in Britain and Ireland, a dioecious, prostrate, mat-forming shrublet whose aerial branches rise 5 to 10 cm (BSBI)
- •Forms loose mats in extreme exposure or late snow-lie, on summits, ridges, screes and ledges (BSBI)
- •Occurs from near sea level at Fethaland, Shetland, to 1,310 m on Ben Nevis, mostly above 600 m (BSBI)
- •On the rare plant registers of nine vice-counties, mainly in Welsh and Scottish uplands (BSBI)
- •GB Red List Least Concern; Near Threatened in Wales and Ireland (BSBI)
- •Often described as the world's smallest woody plant or tree; treat this as an oft-repeated quiz claim rather than a measured record
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Sources
- Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland — Salix herbacea L. (Dwarf Willow)