Willows (Focus - January)

Now that the trees have shed their leaves their branches are more clearly visible and this highlights the colour of some willow species. Beside Fonthill Lake, near the arch, are a few trees which catch the eye, as they shine orange in the afternoon sun. Elsewhere you might see willows with purple, yellow or red twigs. There are many willow (Salix) species and a huge number of varieties which have been bred for different purposes and their colour. Over the centuries, people have found numerous uses for willow and given it different names, such as osiers or withies.

In the past, chewing willow bark was used to relieve pain. Nowadays, the painkiller Aspirin is derived from salicin, a compound found in the bark of all Salix species. Baskets of all sizes have been made from willow all over the world for centuries and put to a multitude of uses. Willow was also used to make furniture, hurdles, lobster pots, cages, fish traps and, of course, cricket bats. Somerset is an important area for the production of willow, where hundreds of acres are dedicated to growing different varieties for varied uses.

The advent of plastics replaced many uses of woven willow - also known as wicker – but new uses continue to be found, for example sculptures large and small, and you can now even get a wicker coffin. The latest development is planting willow as short-rotation coppice, which can be mechanically harvested and used as a perennial bioenergy crop. This can use land less suited to food production and, because it regrows from the cut stool each year, doesn’t require annual planting.

Willows can be found throughout the country, especially the commonest, the goat willow, also known as pussy willow or great sallow. In common with all other willows, it is pollinated by insects and has male flowers on one tree and very different looking female flowers on another. In full bloom in spring, the catkins provide a huge, early source of nectar for insects. Their foliage also provides a food source for the larvae of several moths, as well as the wonderful Purple Emperor butterfly.

Willows are very prone to hybridise with other species of willow, which makes certain identification difficult. But it has resulted in a great variety of forms including the fabulous weeping willow. To confuse matters further, poplars which are closely related (but wind pollinated) also have catkins and alternate buds and leaves like willows. However, poplar leaves are triangular, or diamond shaped, while willows (apart from goat willow) are long and thin.

Although willows are relatively short-lived trees and not valued for their timber, they are nonetheless an important but easily overlooked element of our countryside, without which many other species would struggle.

​Andrew Graham