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West Virginia Trees

Chapter 42: BLACK WILLOW
By A. B. Brooks
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Nature/Gardening/Animals

About This Book

A practical field guide to the native and introduced trees of West Virginia, providing keys based mainly on leaves and fruits, concise family and species descriptions, and detailed line drawings for about 101 native species. It organizes trees by botanical families, gives brief flower notes, a glossary of terms, and suggestions for identifying specimens; occasional introduced species and shrubs are noted. The bulletin emphasizes simplicity for non-specialists, offers measurements and habit descriptions for each species, and includes administrative prefatory material. Its aim is to aid lay readers and students in tree identification and to encourage local interest in forestry.

BLACK WILLOW

Salix nigra, Marsh.

Form.—Height 30-50 feet, diameter 1-2 feet; trunk often crooked or leaning; crown open with long straggling limbs.

Leaves.—Alternate, simple, narrowly lanceolate, taper-pointed, margins finely serrate, 3-6 inches long, ¼-¾ inch broad; large semicordate stipules.

Flowers.—March-April, before the leaves; dioecious; both kinds of flowers borne in slender, hairy catkins, 1-3 inches long; calyx and corolla wanting; scales yellow, with 3-6 stamens.

Fruit.—A capsule ⅛ inch long, early splitting open and liberating the hairy seeds which are carried about by the wind.

Bark.—On twigs reddish-brown; on old trunks thick, and rough with many broad connecting ridges, often becoming shaggy.

Wood.—Light, soft, brittle, not durable, very dark colored with light sapwood.

Range.—New Brunswick south to Florida, west to Dakota, Arizona and central California.

Distribution in West Virginia.—A common tree along streams in nearly all parts of the State.

Habitat.—Banks of streams and pond borders.

Notes.—This is the commonest and most easily recognized of the willows. Its greatest value in West Virginia is probably the part it plays in holding stream banks in place. The wood is sometimes used for fuel and charcoal.