Salix nigra

Plant Characteristics

Height:	⇕	10 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 10. to 30 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 30.
Width:	⇔	15 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 15.
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial
Origin:	✈	E United States
Bloom:	❀	early spring, mid spring, late spring

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
Water:	◍	wet, moist
Features:	✓	flowers
USDA Zones:		4 to 10

Scientific Names

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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.

Flowers

It is a medium-sized deciduous tree, the largest North American species of willow, growing to 10-30 m tall, exceptionally up to 45 m, with a trunk 50–80 cm diameter. The bark is dark brown to blackish, becoming fissured in older trees. The shoots are slender, 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 small, 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. The fruit is a 5 mm capsule which splits open when mature to release the numerous minute, down-covered seeds. It is typically found along streams and in swamps.

Salix gooddingii (Goodding's Willow) is sometimes included in S. nigra as a variety, as S. nigra var. vallicola Dudley; when included, this extends the species' range to western North America. However, the two are usually treated as distinct species.

Read about Salix nigra in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Salix nigra. Black Willow. Tree, 30-40 ft. high: bark flaky, often becoming shaggy: twigs brittle at base: buds small: lvs. lanceolate, green both sides, finely and evenly serrate: aments 1-2 in. long; scales oblong, deciduous; stamens 3-6; ovary ovate-conical, glabrous; style short but distinct. E. N. Amer. Var. falcata, Pursh. Lvs. elongated, narrow and falcate. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Gallery

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Salix nigra. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Salix nigra QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)