Salix brachycarpa

Nutt.

Barren-ground Willow

Salicaceae Edible: Inner bark, Leaves Some parts mildly toxic — see hazards 555 iNaturalist observations

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Summary

Salix brachycarpa is a species of flowering plant in the willow family known by the common names barren-ground willow, small-fruit willow and shortfruit willow.

Description

A deciduous shrub reaching 1.4 m tall, hardy to UK zone 4 and frost-resistant. Dioecious requiring both sexes for seed production; bee-pollinated. Grows in light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay soils at mildly acidic to neutral pH. Cannot grow in shade and requires moist or wet soil. Tolerates maritime exposure.

Edible Uses

The inner bark can be eaten raw or cooked, or dried and ground into a powder to blend with cereal flour for bread-making. It has a very bitter flavour and is considered a famine food, used only when all else fails. Young shoots are edible but not very palatable.

Medicinal Uses

The fresh bark contains salicin, which probably decomposes into salicylic acid (closely related to aspirin) in the human body, and is used as an anodyne and febrifuge.

Distribution

It is a temperate plant.

Where It Grows

Canada, North America, USA,

Cultivation

Succeeds in most soils, including wet, ill-drained or intermittently flooded soils, but prefers a damp, heavy soil in a sunny position. Rarely thrives on chalk. Very tolerant of maritime exposure. Hybridizes freely with other members of this genus. Although the flowers are produced in catkins early in the year, they are pollinated by bees and other insects rather than by the wind. Plants in this genus are notably susceptible to honey fungus. Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.

Propagation

Seed must be surface sown as soon as it ripens in late spring, as viability is very short — perhaps only a few days. Cuttings of mature wood from the current year's growth can be taken November to February, either in a sheltered outdoor bed or planted straight into their permanent position with a weed-suppressing mulch; these root very easily. Plant out permanently in autumn. Half-ripe cuttings taken June to August in a frame also root very easily.