Salix capreaL. Goat Willow

Salix capreaL. - Goat Willow

Scientific Description:

Shrub or small tree 3−10 m; bark coarsely fissured, yellowish. Twigs rather thick, pubescent at first, soon glabrescent. Decorticated wood smooth or with scattered weak striations. Buds elongate-ovoid, blackish, obtuse. Leaves broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, 1.5−2.2 × as long as broad, 5−12 × 3−5.5 cm, obtuse, acute or obliquely acuminate, margin sinuate-dentate, crenate or entire, ± undulate, dark green and glabrous above, softly grey-tomentose below, almost lanate (rarely glabrous); petiole 1−1.5 cm. Stipules large, reniform to semicordate, dentate, caducous. Catkins appearing before leaves, subsessile; male oblong-ovoid, 2−3.5 × 1.5−2 cm; stamens 2, filaments glabrous, anthers 0.9−1.2 mm; female elongating to 3−7 cm in fruit, capsule 6−8 mm, ovoid-conical, tomentose; pedicel 4−6 × nectary in fruit.

Flowering time: April−May.

Habitat: Streamsides, open deciduous forests, s.I.−2250 m.

Reference:

Skvortsov AK & Edmondson JR (1982). Salix caprea L., In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 7: 710.

Public Description:

Salix caprea, commonly known as “goat willow”, is native to Europe and western and central Asia. It is a decidious shrub or small tree which is up to 10 meter in length. It blooms between April and May and is found in streamsides, open deciduous forests. The wood of this tree is crunchy and fragile. For this reason, it is not considered a good source of timber. However, both “tannin”, used for tanning leather, and “salicin”, the raw material of the appirin, can be extracted from goat willow bark. A small number of cultivars have been used in garden landscaping.

References:

Anonymous 1 (2016) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salix_caprea/,Accessed date: 05.08.2016.

Anonymous 2 (2016) http://www.luontoportti.com/suomi/en/puut/goat-willow /,Accessed date: 05.08.2016

Anonymous 3 (2016) https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/search/?q=salix+caprea/,Accessed date: 05.08.2016

Mataracı T (2012) Salix L., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 836–839.