The largest of the British willows, with silky silvery-white undersides to its leaves and a leaning crown by the river
White willow.
Nature · Trees
White willow
Native · deciduous, to 25 m · flowers early spring · riversides and wet ground
Salix alba — Salicaceae
The largest British willow, white willow is a leaning riverside tree with silky, silvery-white undersides to its narrow leaves. Its cultivated relative, the cricket-bat willow, is a hybrid of white and crack willow. Bark from all willows contains salicin, from which aspirin was developed.
How to know it
How to spot them
- ▸Slender oval leaves, pale beneath with a felt of fine silky silvery hairs
- ▸Grey-brown bark deeply fissured with age; irregular, leaning crown
- ▸Slender flexible twigs; narrow buds pressed to the twig
- ▸Catkins in early spring; male 4–5 cm, female 3–4 cm, on separate trees
- ▸Riversides, streams and damp ground
How to know it
The tree from which the cricket-bat willow was bred, crossed with the brittle crack willow
White willow (Salix alba).
Its bark contains salicin, the compound from which aspirin is derived, and was chewed in medieval times for pain relief
White willow.
Often depicted as a tree of mourning, and beside one Ophelia drowns
White willow — willows generally.
Northern people used its branches in place of palms on Palm Sunday
White willow — willows generally.
Dioecious, with the down-wrapped seeds carried by wind, and prone to watermark disease
White willow.
Quick-fire facts
- •Salix alba: alba means white, for the leaf undersides
- •Woodland Trust: the largest willow, to 25 m
- •Cricket-bat willow is a hybrid of white willow and crack willow
- •Salicin, found in the bark of all Salix species, is the compound from which aspirin is derived
- •Willows freely hybridise
- •Caterpillars of puss moth, eyed hawk-moth and red underwing feed on the leaves; catkins give early nectar for bees
- •Watermark disease, caused by the bacterium Brenneria salicis, can kill branches and eventually the tree
- •Shakespeare's Ophelia drowns beside a willow in Hamlet
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Sources
- Woodland Trust — White willow (Salix alba)