Big Willow NC

Big Willow, NC

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TOPIC: "Big willow"
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/88f8e8f803a4ed31?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Thurs, Aug 21 2008 6:39 pm
From: "Will Blozan"

Hey ENTS,

I measured a "huge" willow this week that I think is generically a "pussy
willow". I am not sure if it is a Salix discolor (native), Salix caprea
(exotic) or other invasive shrubby willow. They are rather common in my area
of western NC and would like to know for sure what it is. Any ideas? Leaves
are small, oblanceolate and rather rounded at the ends. Photos on line do
not match either species above very well. They grow in wet areas and are
usually leaning and toppled. This specimen was vertical, 18" diameter and
44' tall. Sorry, but I have not tried to key it out yet.

Will F. Blozan
President, Eastern Native Tree Society
President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc.

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Aug 25 2008 2:10 pm
From: "Will Blozan"

Kouta,

I will get some. Thanks for the reply!

Will F. Blozan
President, Eastern Native Tree Society
President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc.

Will F. Blozan

President, Eastern Native Tree Society

President, Appalachian Arborists, Inc.

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Thurs, Aug 28 2008 9:36 pm
From: "Jess Riddle"

Will,

Looking at Ron Lance's Woody Plants of the Southeastern United States
there are essentially for possibilities for your willow: Salix
purpurea, S. caprea, S. cinerea, and S. pentandra. The growth form
and branch structure are wrong for S. purpurea, and the twigs don't
fit S. pentandra. Your photos are fairly consistent with both S.
caprea and S. cinerea. Based on what look like hairs on the bud in
the photo and the ribbing on the branches it looks more like S.
cinerea. The key break between the two is: branchlets glabrous, buds
nearly glabrous, young stem wood smooth beneath its bark --> S.
caprea; branchlets pubescent, buds pubescent, young stem wood lined
beneath bark --> S. cinerea.

Jess

== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Sat, Aug 30 2008 2:00 am
From: Kouta Räsänen

Will and Jess,

I am surprised that all the possibilities Jess gave are european!
Jess, you are right, S. purpurea and S. pentandra can be excluded for
sure.

The leaves strogly resemble those of S. caprea. To be sure, I just
picked one twig from streetside 100 metres away from where I live (in
Germany). S. caprea is a very common species throughout Europe in the
north to Polar See and in the south to the Mediterranean mountains
(and in the east to eastern Asia). The trunk of S. caprea can become
fairly large as in Will's specimen, and S. caprea trees can be quite
tall for Salix (the tallest measured specimen in Finland is 24.5
metres (80 feet) tall). Hairiness of the buds varies from one
subspecies/varietas to another. Some are without hairs, some with
hairs, and some first with and then without. What do not resemble S.
caprea, are the branches: in Will's photos the branches seem to be
smooth, and as I already wrote, those of S. caprea are usually
consipuously striped because the bark cracks vertically.

S. cinerea resembles S. caprea, but my understanding is that S.
cinerea becomes never so large but it is a shrub. There is subsp.
oleifolia which becomes to be a small tree, but the undersides of its
leaves should be thinly red-brown hairy. The leaf margins of S.
cinerea are also toothed.

One possibility is that it is a hybrid. Perhaps between S. caprea and
some of your native species. As we know, hybrids are quite common in
genus Salix. Are there close relatives of S. caprea in your flora?

Kouta

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