The willows are deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus Salix, part of the willow family Salicaceae.

There are about 350 species in this genus worldwide, found primarily on moist soils in cooler zones in the Northern Hemisphere. The leaves are deciduous, often elongate but round to oval in a few species, and with a serrated margin. Willows are dioecious with male and female flowers appearing as catkins on different plants; the catkins are produced early in the spring, often before the leaves or as the new leaves open. The fruit is a small capsule containing numerous tiny (0.1 mm) seeds embedded in white down, which assists wind dispersal of the seeds. Willows are very cross-fertile and numerous hybrids are known, both naturally occurring and in cultivation.

Some smaller species may also be known by the common names osier and sallow; the latter name is derived from the same root as the Latin salix.

Some willows, particularly arctic and alpine species, are very small; the Dwarf Willow (Salix herbacea) rarely exceeds 6 cm in height, though spreading widely across the ground.

The Weeping Willow, very widely planted as an ornamental tree, is a cultivar, Salix × sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma', derived from a hybrid between the Chinese Peking Willow and the European White Willow.

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 and Peachleaf Willow. One famous example of such growth from cuttings involves the poet Alexander Pope, 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 used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species - see list of Lepidoptera which feed on Willows.

Uses

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Medicinal uses

The bark of the willow tree has been mentioned in ancient texts from Assyria, Sumeria and Egypt as a remedy for aches and fever, and the Greek physician Hippocrates wrote about its medicinal properties in the 5th century BC. Native Americans across the American continent relied on it as a staple of their medical treatments.

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, an Italian chemist, who then succeeded in separating out the acid in its pure state. Salicin is acidic when in a saturated solution in water (pH = 2.4), and is called salicylic acid for that reason.

In 1897 Felix Hoffmann created a synthetically altered version of salicin (in his case derived from the Spiraea plant), which caused less digestive upset than pure salicylic acid. The new drug, formally Acetylsalicylic acid, was named aspirin by Hoffmann's employer Bayer AG. This gave rise to the hugely important class of drugs known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Other uses

• Agroforestry
• Basket weaving
• Biofiltration
• Biomass energy (bioenergy)
• Box, Veneer
• Charcoal
• Constructed wetland
• Cricket bat
• Cradle board
• Chair & furniture
• Doll, Toy, Whistle
• Ecological wastewater treatment system
• Energy forestry
• As part of the four species used on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
• Fibre plant
• Fish trap
• Flute
• Hedge
• Land reclamation
• Landscaping
• Living Willow Sculpture
• Paper
• Phytoremediation
• Pole, turnery, tool handles
• Punitive, as a switch or multiple rod (implements for corporal punishment, in Irish known as sally rod; a traditional favorite, hence also used as a verb for its painful administration, from which the substantivation willowing derives, like birching)
• Rope and string
• Streambank stabilisation (bioengineering)
• Slope stabilisation
• Soil erosion control
• Soil building
• Soil reclamation
• Shelterbelt & Windbreak
• Sweat lodge
• Tannin
• Wand, Broom
• Wattle fence
• Wattle and daub
• Wildlife habitat

See also

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• Willow-herb is the common name of several species of Epilobium
• Seep willow is the common name of Baccharis salicifolia

Spanking implements

External links and references

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• Newsholme, C. (1992). Willows: The Genus Salix. ISBN 0881925659
• Warren-Wren, S.C. (1992). The Complete Book of Willows. ISBN 049801262X
• 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

Image:Willow (salix).JPG|Weeping Willow Image:Willow catkin 1 aka.jpg|Willow catkin Image:Willow catkin 2 aka.jpg|Willow catkin

Medicinal herbs and fungi | Salicaceae | Trees

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