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Salix purpurea
Also called Basket Willow, Purple Osier, Purple Osier Willow, Purpleosier Willow
Purple willow is a fast-growing shrub or small tree, usually kept as a multi-stemmed shrub in gardens, prized for its purple-tinged stems and for basketry. It grows best in damp soil and is happiest in wet or moist spots near water.
Salix purpurea, known in Britain as purple willow, is a shrub or small tree native to Europe, western Asia and northwest Africa. It has been introduced to many other parts of the world as an ornamental garden plant, and it is widely used in basket making. Within its native range and some places where it is naturalised it is found in wetlands such as lake margins and the floodplains of rivers.
The native range is southern Europe and north Africa, extending as far north as Denmark and eastwards to Turkey and the Baltic states. It is only just in western Russia: plants further east are a different species in the Salix purpurea group. Britain may be at the northern edge of its range, or it might be introduced there, as it is thought to be in Scandinavia. It has also been introduced into many other parts of the world, mostly as an ornamental plant. It is naturalised in wetlands in North America.
Purple willow has long been used for basket making and is still harvested for that purpose, when it is often known as "Brittany Green" willow, valued for its purple colour and evenly-sized stems (i.e. remaining the same thickness along its length). Willow beds were often planted with a variety of plants: the British botanist Charles Sinker documented a withy bed at Crew Green in Wales which contained five species and three hybrids.
Siberian Violet Willow · White willow · Salix alpina · Arctic willow · Eared willow · Peking Willow · Goat Willow · Pussy willow · Olive Willow · Salix excelsa · Narrowleaf willow · Salix fargesii
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Salix purpurea 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.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
