Willow

Willows
Weeping Willow
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Salicaceae
Genus:	Salix L.
Species
About 350.

Willows are a group of trees and shrubs which may be called sallows or osiers. Their Latin name is Salix.

Willows have many differences in size and type of growth, but are very much alike in other respects. There are about 350 species of this plant, usually found on moist soils in cooler zones in the Northern Hemisphere. Many hybrids are known, both naturally occurring and in cultivation, because willows are very fertile.

Willows have watery bark sap, charged with salicylic acid (defence against herbivory). They have soft, usually pliant (bendy), tough wood, slender branches, and large, fibrous, often stoloniferous roots. The roots are remarkable for their toughness, size, and are hard to kill. Roots readily sprout from aerial parts of the plant.

Willows are dioecious, with male and female flowers appearing as catkins on separate plants. The catkins are produced early in the spring, often before the leaves.

Pictures

• 
  Weeping Willow in Auckland, New Zealand
• 
  Salix herbacea, Dwarf Willow, Sweden
• 
  Willow catkin
  (Salix discolor)
• 
  Young male catkin

Other websites

• Salix alba at plants for a future
• Salix purpurea at plants for a future
• 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
• Salix caroliniana images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu Archived 2012-05-02 at the Wayback Machine
• Salix nigra images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu Archived 2012-05-02 at the Wayback Machine
• Salix humboldtiana or Chilean willow images