alba

Salix alba is native to Europe, Eastern and Central Asia; in the 18-19C it was introduced into North America and is naturalized in many areas.

It develops into a large tree, 30-75ft tall, with a trunk up to 3ft across at the base. It has gray-brown, deeply fissured bark. Foliage is usually paler than most other trees due to fine silky white hairs and when most trees assume their mid-green tones in mid-summer, the white willow stands out with it’s much paler foliage. Leaves are 3-5in long and .5-1.25in wide. Twig color is usually gray-brown to green-brown; however, it is very variable and many selections have been made (cultivars) with yellow, orange, red, green and gray stems. White willow cultivars are readily distinguished by their twiggy growth when coppiced. White willow cross-pollinates with other species, especially the Crack Willow (S. euxina) and hybrids between the two are listed under S. xfragilis.

Near where we live in Vermont, S. xfragilis is the most common tree willow, even more frequent than our native S. nigra (Black Willow). An ancient variety of the White Willow, S. alba var. vitellina, crossed with the East Asian S. babylonica to produce a hybrid called S. xsalamonii that is the Golden Weeping Willow and is found throughout North America. (See S. xsalamonii ‘Chrysocoma’). This abundance is due mainly to stem fragmentation, where branches snap off and are carried, usually by water, to nearby sites where they root and grow readily.

description credit to Michael Dodge