White Willow

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White Willow

White Willow redirects here. See White Willow (band)
White Willow (band)

White Willow is a Norway art rock band, mixing elements of orchestral Pop music, 70's progressive rock, Jazz fusion and even Electronic music elements....
for the Norwegian band.

Golden Willow redirects here. See Golden Willow
Golden Willow (horse)

Golden Willow is the youngest horse to ever win the Badminton Horse Trials. The five-year-old won the first year of the event, in 1949. Today, horses must be a minimum of seven years old to compete in the difficult competition, and most horses that compete are no younger than 10....
for information on the horse of that name.

Salix alba (White Willow) is a species of willow

Willow

Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....
native to Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
and western and central Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
. The name derives from the white tone to the undersides of the leaves.

It is a medium-sized to large deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe....
tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
growing up to 10–30 m tall, with a trunk up to 1 m diameter and an irregular, often leaning crown.

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Encyclopedia

Salix alba (White Willow) is a species of willow

Willow

Europe

Asia

Deciduous

TREE

BARK

BARK was an early Electromechanics. BARK was built using standard phone relays, implementing a 32-bit binary machine and could perform addition in 150 ms and multiplication in 250 ms....
is grey-brown, deeply fissured in older trees. The shoots in the typical species are grey-brown to green-brown. The leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
are paler than most other willows, due to a covering of very fine silky white hairs, particularly on the underside; they are 5–10 cm long and 0.5–1.5 cm wide. The flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s are produced in catkin

Catkin

A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollination but sometimes insect pollinated ....
s in early spring, and pollinated by insect

Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s. It is dioecious

Plant sexuality

Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes Morphology aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....
, with male and female catkins on separate trees; the male catkins are 4–5 cm long, the female catkins 3–4 cm long at pollination, lengthening as the fruit matures. When mature in mid summer, the female catkins comprise numerous small (4 mm) capsules

Capsule (fruit)

In botany a capsule is a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. A capsule is a dehiscent structure composed of two or more carpels, that, at maturity, split apart to release the seeds within....
each containing numerous minute seed

Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s embedded in white down which aids wind dispersal.

Ecology

White Willows are fast-growing, but relatively short-lived, being susceptible to several disease

Disease

A disease or medical condition is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and Medical signs....
s, including watermark disease

Brenneria salicis

Brenneria salicis is a Gram-negative bacterium that is pathogenic on plants.The bacterium is known to cause 'watermark disease' in willow trees....
caused by the bacterium Brenneria salicis
Brenneria salicis

Brenneria salicis is a Gram-negative bacterium that is pathogenic on plants.The bacterium is known to cause 'watermark disease' in willow trees....
(named because of the characteristic 'watermark' staining in the wood

Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
; syn. Erwinia salicis) and willow anthracnose, caused by the fungus

Fungus

A fungus is a Eukaryote organism that is a member of the Kingdom Fungi . The fungi are a monophyletic group, also called the Eumycota , that is phylogeny distinct from the morphologically similar slime molds and water molds ....
Marssonina salicicola. These diseases can be a serious problem on trees grown for timber or ornament.

It readily forms natural hybrids with Crack Willow Salix fragilis, the hybrid being named Salix × rubens Schrank.

Uses

The wood

Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
is tough, strong, and light in weight, but has minimal resistance to decay. The stems (withies

Withy

Withy is the name given to strong flexible willow stems that are typically used in thatching and for gardening. An advantage of using this type of material is said to be a greater resistance to woodworm....
) from coppiced

Coppicing

Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management in which young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level. In subsequent growth years, many new shoots will emerge, and, after a number of years the coppiced tree, or Living stump, is ready to be harvested, and the cycle begins again....
and pollarded

Pollarding

File:Pollarded trees in Kilmaurs Ayrshire.JPGPollarding is a woodland management method of encouraging lateral branches by cutting off a tree stem or minor branches two or three metres above ground level....
plants are used for basket-making. Charcoal

Charcoal

Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances....
made from the wood was important for gunpowder

Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also called black powder, is an explosive mixture of sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate, KNO3 that burns rapidly, producing volumes of hot solids and gases which can be used as a propellant in firearms and as a pyrotechnic composition in fireworks....
manufacture. The bark was used in the past for tanning

Tanning

Tanning is the process of making leather, which does not easily Decomposition, from the skins of animals, which do. Often this uses tannin, an acidic chemical compound....
leather.

Cultivars and hybrids

A number of cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when Plant propagation it retains those characteristics....
s and hybrids have been selected for forestry

Forestry

Forestry is the art and science of managing forests, tree plantations, and related natural resources. Silviculture, a related science, involves the growing and tending of trees and forests....
and horticultural

Horticulture

'Horticulture' is the industry and science of plant cultivation. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, Crop , plant breeding and genetic engineering, plant biochemistry, and plant physiology....
use:

Salix alba 'Caerulea' (Cricket-bat Willow; syn. Salix alba var. caerulea (Sm.) Sm.; Salix caerulea Sm.) is grown as a specialist timber
Timber

Timber may refer to:* Lumber, i.e. wood materials* Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S. state of Oregon* Timber , a 1984 arcade game by Bally Midway...
crop in Britain
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
, mainly for the production of cricket
Cricket

Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games team sport that originated in southern England. The earliest definite reference is dated 1598, and it is now played in more than 100 countries....
bats
Cricket bat

File:Cricket Bat.jpgA cricket bat is used by batsman in the sport of cricket. It is usually made of willow wood. Its use is first mentioned in 1624....
, but also for other uses where a tough, lightweight wood
Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
that does not splinter easily, is required. It is distinguished mainly by its growth form, very fast growing with a single straight stem, and also by its slightly larger leaves (10–11 cm long, 1.5–2 cm wide) with a more blue-green colour. Its origin is unknown; it may be a hybrid between White Willow and Crack Willow, but this is not confirmed.
Salix alba 'Vitellina' (Golden Willow; syn. Salix alba var. vitellina (L.) Stokes) is a cultivar grown in gardens for its shoots, which are golden yellow for 1–2 years before turning brown. It is particularly decorative in winter; the best effect is achieved by coppicing
Coppicing

Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management in which young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level. In subsequent growth years, many new shoots will emerge, and, after a number of years the coppiced tree, or Living stump, is ready to be harvested, and the cycle begins again....
it every 2–3 years to stimulate the production of longer young shoots with better colour. Other similar cultivars include 'Britzensis', 'Cardinal', and 'Chermesina', selected for even brighter orange-red shoots.
Salix alba 'Sericea' (Silver Willow) is a cultivar where the white hairs on the leaves are particularly dense, giving it more strongly silvery-white foliage.

The Weeping Willow (Salix × sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma', syn. Salix 'Tristis') is a hybrid between White Willow and Peking Willow Salix babylonica.

Medicinal uses

Hippocrates

Hippocrates of Cos II or Hippokrates of Kos - ancient Greek: ; Hippokr?tes was an Ancient Greece physician of the Age of Pericles, and was considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine....
wrote in the 5th century BC about a bitter powder extracted from willow bark that could ease aches and pains and reduce fevers. This remedy is also mentioned in texts from ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an Ancient history civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile in what is now the modern nation of Egypt....
, Sumer

Sumer

Sumer was a civilization and a historical region located in Southern Iraq , known as the Cradle of civilization. It lasted from the first settlement of Eridu in the Ubaid period through the Uruk period and the Dynastic periods until the rise of Babylon in the early 2nd millennium BC....
, and Assyria

Assyria

Assyria was a political state centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times in history....
. The Reverend Edmund Stone

Edmund Stone

Reverend Edward Stone was a Church of England Rector who discovered the active ingredient of Aspirin....
, a vicar from Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire England, noted in 1763 that willow bark was effective in reducing a fever. The bark is often macerated

Maceration

Maceration may refer to:* Maceration , the softening or breaking into pieces with liquid* Maceration, in chemistry and herbalism, the preparation of an extract by solvent extraction material in water, vegetable oil or some organic solvent....
in ethanol to produce a tincture

Tincture

In medicine, a tincture is an alcoholic extract or solution of a non-Volatility substance; . To qualify as a tincture, the alcoholic extract is to have an ethanol percentage of at least 40-60% ....
.

The active extract of the bark, called salicin, after the Latin name Salix, 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, like aspirin

Aspirin

Aspirin , also known as acetylsalicylic acid , is a salicylate medication, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains, as an antipyretic to reduce fever, and as an anti-inflammatory medication....
, is a chemical derivative of salicylic acid

Salicylic acid

Salicylic acid is a beta hydroxy acid with the chemical formula C6H4COOH, where the OH group is adjacent to the carboxylic acid....
.

White Willow

Ecology

Uses

Cultivars and hybrids

Medicinal uses

Photographs and illustration