Willow

Description:

The foliage of some types of willows is dense, curly, green in color, while others are more sparse, draughty, gray-green or gray-white in color. The leaves are alternate, petiolate; the leaf blade in some species is broad, elliptical, in others rather narrow and long; the edge of the plate is only in a few species whole, in most it is finely or coarsely toothed. The plate is either a brilliant, bright green color on both surfaces, or only on the upper one; the lower surface of such willows from the hairs and from the bluish plaque is gray or bluish. The cylindrical petiole is rather short; at its base there are two stipules, mostly toothed, wide, or narrow; they persist either only until the leaf is fully developed, or all summer. Stipules serve as a good sign for distinguishing between different types of willows; one species, called eared Willow (Salix aurita) has large stipules sticking out in the form of ears. It is very interesting that stipules are most developed on young growth that grows from the trunk or from the roots. The stem is branched; the branches are thin, twig-like, flexible, brittle, with dull or shiny bark, purple, green, and other colors. The buds are also of various colors, dark brown, red-yellow, and so on; their outer integumentary scales are mutually fused with their edges into a single cap, or cover, which separates when the buds grow, at its base and then falls completely. The apical Bud on the branches usually dies, and the side one next to it gives the strongest shoot and, so to speak, replaces the dead apical Bud. Some of the willows bloom in early spring before the leaves open (for example, Salix daphnoides), others-in early summer, at the same time as the leaves appear, or even later (for example, Salix pentandra). The flowers are bisexual, very small and not very noticeable in themselves; only because they are collected in dense inflorescences (catkins), it is not difficult to find them, and in willows that bloom before the leaves open, the inflorescences are sharply noticeable. Catkins are unisexual, or only with male or only with female flowers; male and female catkins appear on different individuals: willow in the full sense of the word plants are dioecious. The structure of flowers is generally the same: in male two stamens, in female one pistil, in both there are nectaries. Fruit-a box that opens with two leaves. The seed is very small, covered with white fluff, quite light, freely carried by the wind over long distances. In the air, willow seeds retain their germination for only a few days; once in the water, at the bottom of water pools, they retain their germination for several years. This is the reason that dried ditches, ponds, muddy mud, scooped out when cleaning a pond or river, sometimes abundantly covered in a relatively short time with willow shoots. The young willow sprout is very weak and easily choked by grass, but it grows very quickly; woody willows in General grow unusually fast in the first years of their life. In nature, willows are propagated by seeds, in culture, mainly by cuttings and layering; a live willow branch, a stake driven into the ground, quickly takes root.

Habitat:

Most types of willows like humidity and grow in damp places. Only a few of the species can be found in dry or swampy areas. It is even rarer to find willow in the woods. Willows are found mainly in the temperate latitudes of the Northern hemisphere (1 species is in South Africa and 1-in South America). Several types of willows have taken root in the Arctic tundra (polar willows, monetchata, etc.): these are tiny shrubs that hide creeping stems in mosses. Willow is a common plant in all territories of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. In the middle zone, willows prefer to settle along the banks of reservoirs, where they form dense thickets.