Overview
The White Willow Tree is a large, native, deciduous, ornamental tree of conical habit with slender, elegant branches, drooping at the tips, typically seen growing in water meadows and riversides. Silky hairy leaves give a lovely silvery effect.
 
Description 
Deciduous broadleaved tree reaching 25m in height, often with an irregular, leaning crown. Grey-brown bark, developing great fissures with age. Its name is derived from its narrow silvery leaves which distinguish it from other willows. May be coppiced or pollarded for its flexible young shoots.
 
Planting Position 
Moist deep rich soils, and boggy sites. Good in moist coastal conditions, tolerant of exposed sites. Any moist soil in a sunny position is suitable. 
 
Attributes 
Long slender leaves, green above and pale, silky and hairy below, in great billowy masses, creating a characteristic silvery appearance from a distance. Long thin catkins appear with young leaves in spring.
 
Caterpillars of a number of moth and butterfly species feed on the foliage, including the puss moth, willow ermine, eyed hawk-moth and red underwing, and tortoiseshell and comma butterflies. The catkins provide an important source of early nectar and pollen for bees and other insects, and the branches make good nesting and roosting sites for birds.