Salix piperi

Bebb.

Dune willow, Coastal Willow

Salicaceae Edible: Inner bark, Leaves

wikimedia· cc-by

Wikimedia Commons - Maja Dumat

Summary

A deciduous tree that is not frost tender. Dioecious species requiring both male and female plants for seed production, pollinated by bees. Grows in light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay soils with mildly acid to neutral pH. Requires full sun and prefers moist or wet soil.

Description

Edible Uses

The inner bark can be eaten raw or cooked, or dried, ground into a powder, and blended with cereal flour for bread-making. It has a very bitter flavour and is considered a famine food, used only when nothing else is available. Young shoots can be cooked or used as a flavouring, though they are not very palatable.

Medicinal Uses

The fresh bark of all willows contains salicin, which likely breaks down into salicylic acid (closely related to aspirin) in the body. This gives it properties as an anodyne and febrifuge.

Distribution

It is a temperate plant.

Where It Grows

Australia, 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. Hybridizes freely with other members of this genus, and especially with S. hookeriana, to which it is closely related. 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 and rooted in a sheltered outdoor bed or planted directly into their permanent position with a good weed-suppressing mulch; this is very easy. Plant out in autumn. Half-ripe cuttings taken June to August and rooted in a frame are also very easy.

Other Uses

The very flexible stems are used in basket making, with plants typically coppiced annually, or every two years when thicker upright poles are needed. The bark is used extensively in basketry. The soft roots have been used as a towel for rubbing down after bathing. String can also be made from the bark.