The leaf petioles are short, the stipules often very conspicuous, resembling tiny, round leaves, and sometimes remaining for half the summer. Usually they are serrate, rounded at base, acute or acuminate. The leaves are simple, feather-veined, and typically linear-lanceolate. Usually, the bud scale is fused into a cap-like shape, but in some species it wraps around and the edges overlap. australior in the eastern Mediterranean.Īll the buds are lateral no absolutely terminal bud is ever formed. Most species are deciduous semi- evergreen willows with coriaceous leaves are rare, e.g. The leaves are typically elongated, but they might also be round to oval, frequently with serrated edges.

The roots are remarkable for their toughness, size, and tenacity to live, and roots readily sprout from aerial parts of the plant. Willows all have abundant watery bark sap, which is heavily charged with salicylic acid, soft, usually pliant, tough wood, slender branches, and large, fibrous, often stoloniferous roots. These may fall in spring, or last for much of the summer or even for more than one year ( marcescence). Some willows (particularly arctic and alpine species) are low-growing or creeping shrubs for example, the dwarf willow ( Salix herbacea) rarely exceeds 2 + 1⁄ 2 in) in height, though it spreads widely across the ground.ĭescription At the base of the petiole a pair of stipules form. Most species are known as willow, but some narrow-leaved shrub species are called osier, and some broader-leaved species are referred to as sallow (from Old English sealh, related to the Latin word salix, willow). Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus Salix, comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions.

Egyptian papyrus grass