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Salix alba
Also called Golden willow, Cricket Bat Willow, European Willow
White willow (Salix alba) is a fast-growing deciduous tree of wet ground, typically found beside rivers, lakes and ponds, and grown as a timber, basketry and ornamental tree. It needs moist or waterlogged soil and full sun to thrive.
Salix alba, the white willow, is a species of willow native to Europe and western and Central Asia. The name derives from the white tone to the undersides of the leaves.
The wood is tough, strong, and light in weight, but has minimal resistance to decay. The stems (withies) from coppiced and pollarded plants are used for basket-making. Charcoal made from the wood was important for gunpowder manufacture. The bark tannin was used in the past for tanning leather. The wood is used to make cricket bats.
S. alba wood has a low density and a lower transverse compressive strength. This allows the wood to bend, which is why it can be used to make baskets. Willow bark contains indole-3-butyric acid, which is a plant hormone stimulating root growth; willow trimmings are sometimes used to clone rootstock in place of commercial synthetic root stimulator.
Like all willows, Salix alba is usually to be found in wet or poorly-drained soil at the edge of pools, lakes or rivers. Its wide-spreading roots take up moisture from a large surrounding area.
Siberian Violet Willow · Salix alpina · Arctic willow · Eared willow · Peking Willow · Goat Willow · Pussy willow · Olive Willow · Salix excelsa · Narrowleaf willow · Salix fargesii · Crack Willow
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Salix alba by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
