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White willow (Salix alba)
Photo: MPF, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

On the map in 3 countries tree

White willow

Salix alba

Family: Salicaceae

On our map this plant appears in 3 countries and ranks highest in: Poland, Ukraine, Netherlands.

The white willow is a fast-growing tree reaching 25 m in height, with narrow, lance-shaped leaves that are silvery-white and silky-haired underneath. It grows naturally in willow riparian woodland along riverbanks and on periodically flooded terraces. For centuries it was regularly pollarded – its shoots were cut back at a height of about two metres to provide withies for weaving baskets and fences. This produced the characteristic pollard willows with thick, often hollow trunks, in which owls, hoopoes and insects nest.

Description from: Poland.

More: Wikipedia (en) Wikipedia (pl) Plants of the World Online (Kew)

Significance in each country

  1. Poland no. 4 of 15 native

    Rows of pollard willows along roads and drainage ditches are seen as a symbol of the Polish countryside, especially Masovia – Fryderyk Chopin sits beneath a stylised willow on his famous monument in Warsaw’s Łazienki Park.

  2. Ukraine no. 4 of 10 native

    In Ukrainian culture the willow, together with the kalyna, symbolises the family home and the native land.

  3. Netherlands no. 8 of 10 native

    For centuries pollard willows were planted along plot boundaries and ditches in the polders, and their withies were used to make fascine mattresses that reinforced dykes and riverbanks.