Properties:
Analgesic, Anti-Inflammatory, Antirheumatic, Appetite Depressant, Astringent, Febrifuge, Warm
 
Medicinal Uses:
Arthritis, Colds, Cramps/Abdominal, Cuts and Wounds, Diet/Weight Loss, Fibromyalgia, Headache/Migraine, Lupus, Osteoporosis, Pain Relief, Rheumatoid Arthritis
 
Description:
Salix alba is a medium-sized to large deciduous tree of the Saliaceae family.This fast-growing (although relatively short-lived) tree it grows up to 10–30 m tall, with a trunk up to 1 m diameter. Its irregular crown is often leaning. The bark is grey-brown, and in older trees is deeply fissured; its shoots are usually grey-brown to green-brown.White willow leaves are covered with very fine silky white hairs—particularly true for the leaves' undersides— making this tree paler in hue than most other willows. The leaves are 5–10 cm long and 0.5–1.5 cm wide. In the early spring, the tree's flowers are produced in catkins (flowering spikes, typically downy and pendulous) in and are then pollinated by insects. The tree is dioecious, with male and female catkins on separate trees. Male catkins are 4–5 cm long; and the slightly shorter female catkins 3–4 cm long at pollination, though they will lengthen as the fruit matures. In midsummer when mature, the female catkins comprise numerous small (4 mm) capsules. Each of these capsules containing numerous minute seeds which are in turn embedded in white down, which aids wind dispersal.


Also Known As:
Cricket bat willow, basket willow, crack willow, white willow