Black Willow

Description:

It is a medium-sized deciduous tree, the largest North American species of willow, growing to 10–30 m (33–98 ft) tall, exceptionally up to 45 m (148 ft), with a trunk 50–80 cm diameter. The bark is dark brown to blackish, becoming fissured in older trees, and frequently forking near the base.[3] The shoots are slender and variable in color from green to brown, yellow or purplish; they are (like the related European Salix fragilis) brittle at the base, snapping evenly at the branch junction if bent sharply. The foliage buds are 2–4 mm long, with a single, pointed reddish-brown bud scale. The leaves are alternate, long, thin, 5–15 cm long and 0.5–2 cm broad, usually somewhat falcate, dark, shiny green on both sides or with a lighter green underside, with a finely serrated margin, a short petiole and a pair of small stipules. It is dioecious, with small, greenish yellow to yellow flowers borne on catkins 2.5-7.5 cm long in early spring at the same time as the new leaves appear. This specimen is flowering.

Habitat:

Salix nigra (black willow) is a species of willow native to eastern North America, from New Brunswick and southern Ontario west to Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and Texas. Stringent requirements of seed germination and seedling establishment limit black willow to wet soils near water courses (5), especially floodplains, where it often grows in pure stands.

Notes:

Black willow roots are very bitter, and have been used as a substitute for quinine in the past.[citation needed] Ethnobotanical uses of black willow by various Native American tribes include basketry, and treatment of fever, headache, and coughs.[10] The bark of the tree contains salicylic acid, a chemical compound similar to aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). Black willow is used for a variety of wooden products and the tree, with its dense root system, is excellent for stabilizing eroding lands.