Talk:Willow/Archive 1

6 cm

 * 6 cm sounds awfully suspicious. Can anyone confirm that it's true? --80.219.171.35 16:07, 5 August 2005 (UTC)


 * Yes, 6 cm is correct for several species of willows in the arctic - MPF 23:23, 5 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I believe it is the smallest woody plant in the world - Kalmia


 * Having seen those species frequently, 6 cm would be a large plant. They grow flush to the ground. JöG 19:31, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Not all are trees

 * I didn't categorize under Trees because as the first line says, not all species of willows are trees. Stan 23:39, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Some are trees, so could have categories for both trees and shrubs. Could also have categories for trees of various regions.  (SEWilco 04:20, 13 May 2007 (UTC))

More species photos

 * Seems that two photos of the same species of willow is unecessary--how about a photo of a dwarf willow, to show the range of growth habit? I'm not too familiar yet with working with photos, or I would do this myself. Deirdre 20:54, 31 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Done, finally. JöG 06:58, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

the fall colors of a weeping willow
hay all. its the transition season and its reaLLy a great time for me. discovered today that i have never seen or even really read about it .starting searching and this among many others have no description of. this is one (if not thE) of my favorite trees ...and i want to know !

can anyone help or maybe show a picture of this beautiful time ?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.217.183.239 (talk) 16:58, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Willow Tree Seeds
My grandmother (who would be 90+ now) use to call willow tree seeds, willow wisps, not to be confused with will-of-the-wisp. This was generally in referring to people known today as "free spirts" as a willow wisp in the wind. Has anybody else ever heard of this?

Califdreamin (talk) 12:00, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Metaphor
I have come across a reference to the "Green Willow Tree" which I do not fully understand. In Stan Rogers song "Oh no, not I" there is a verse which goes as follows:

---

So come all you pretty fair maids, a warning take by me / Don't ever put your trust in the green willow tree / For the leaves they will wither and the root it will die / Make you think on all the times when you said "oh no, not I".

---

I am thinking this refers to crying to get ones way (weeping willow) but I am not fully sure. I was also earlier thinking that it was referring to an early form of contraception, but I have yet to come across any old folk remedies suggesting this. If there are other similar uses of the willow tree either metaphorically in literature or medicinally in tradition I would be very much interested in finding out.

154.5.47.48 (talk) 08:56, 18 December 2008 (UTC)


 * See Plant symbolism, where it says that green willow is a traditional British symbol of false love. No ref given though, and the external links don't seem to include it. Richard New Forest (talk) 10:34, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Dental upkeep
I heard it's leaves and branchs were chewed in ancient times to maintain oral health, does anyone know what substance might be doing the cleaning work there? Perhaps a mention under the "Medicinal Use" section of the article. Thanks! --72.75.63.66 03:10, 19 August 2007 (UTC) Rabbits, Sheep, Goats and deer love to eat willow leaves and bark. Willow branches are gathered as fodder by goat-keepers. Here in the UK there are companies selling small bundles of willow twigs for rabbits and hampsters to chew on. Parrots also like to chew branches of willow. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sfwithy (talk • contribs) 11:12, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Living growing willow fences
Fresh willow sticks can be loosly woven together into a fence, where they will sprout leaves and grow. 92.24.99.195 (talk) 11:13, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

willow genus?
Perhaps something in the way of the garrya page and others. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.19.151.13 (talk) 05:54, 21 February 2008 (UTC)

The genus of Willow (Salix), family Salicacea(Britannica), is one that is predominantly traced to arctic and temperate Northern hemisphere climates(Graham 515). There are many variances in the Salix genus which are indicative of certain geographic locations. I.E. S. negro(black willow)North America, and S. alba(white willow)Eurasia(Britannica). One of the well known qualities is the ability for breeding between species. An example of this would be the common weeping willow{S. × sepulcralis Simon)found in North America is a hybrid species crossing, S. babylonica x S. fragillis or S. Wenderoth. The reason for this hybridization is S. babylonica experiences canker diseases which are brought on by Europe and North America's humid climates.

Chamber6 (talk) 19:14, 6 February 2011 (UTC)chamber6

"Plants Profile." Welcome to the PLANTS Database | USDA PLANTS. Web. 06 Feb. 2011. . HOME PAGE National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin. Web. 06 Feb. 2011.  willow.(2011)In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/644534/willow Graham, Linda E., James M. Graham, and Lee Warren. Wilcox. Plant Biology. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006. Print.pg. 181,217,515

Effect on dogs
Can a dog be harmed if bark, leaves or branches from a willow are ingested?
 * I believe so, if a certain quantity is. I've had dogs chew on willow, if I recall correctly, with little effect. I would imagine that it would probably be the same as any other bark, but I'm not 100% sure.--199.126.227.65 05:13, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

I dont know about dogs but I do know cats can get very sick from chewing on the leaves (they are actually allergic to aspirin. High enough dosages can be deadly for them.) -Bill- January, 2008


 * Willow inner barks are poisonous to both dogs and humans in sufficient quantity. You could search for the ED50 of salicin and equate that with average willow tree content. Anything over a spoonful of finely ground INNER bark should be poisonous to a larger canine of weight ≈ 30 Kg. How much bark this is in terms of surface area depends on the tree itself. Orun Kabir (talk) 13:37, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

Origins of willow?
Could someone whose a botanist indicate the origins of the willow. I get the perception that it may be a New World plant???? I'm not sure about the willw growing from the U.K. though??? Some clarification would be helpful here.

-Bill-

January, 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.231.201.225 (talk) 20:07, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

It is native to New and Old world.

IceDragon64 (talk) 21:39, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

List of Salix species
Please help compare Willow to List of Salix species. Please advise on whether or not we can replace the species list in this article with this:

Anna Frodesiak (talk) 12:36, 17 March 2011 (UTC)


 * I went through today and reconciled the lists (and entries in Category:Salix). A full list of species would be quite long, and is more appropriate handled outside of the main Willow article. I've kept the blue-link species in the main article's list (and have, as far as I can tell, included every Salix species which currently has a Wikipedia article). List of Salix species now includes every species (blue link) in the main Willow article, as well as a number of red links. I have not checked the contents of the List of Salix species; it is certainly missing some good species, and probably contains several names that are considered synonyms. However, at least everything is in one place; further improvements to Salix taxonomy on Wikipedia can be carried out in the List of Salix species. Eventually, it may be desirable to trim the species list in Willow further, but at present I think it best to just list every species that has an article. Plantdrew (talk) 17:11, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

Additions
I have just clarified an example of a butterfly that uses willows as food plants. Thanks! Ichooxu (talk) 01:27, 15 November 2013 (UTC)

Willows ...
"Willows all have abundant watery bark sap, which is heavily charged with salicylic acid, soft, usually pliant, tough wood, slender branches, and large, fibrous, often stoloniferous roots."

This is the sort of meandering writing that leaves a reader confused and uninformed.

Take the bit about "soft, usually pliant, tough wood". Is the wood soft or is it tough? It has to be one or the other, surely? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.184.179.165 (talk) 23:08, 15 December 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 2 one external links on Willow. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20080518073112/http://live-artist.com:80/fairytales/willow.html to http://live-artist.com/fairytales/willow.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20110929080553/http://tweedsblues.net/theparables/osage.html to http://tweedsblues.net/theparables/osage.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers. —cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 06:33, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

Active pharmacological ingredient

 * Willow trees do not contain salicylic acid. Salicin, when consumed by humans is metabolized in to salicylic acid, but that's an entirely different process. I edited this, but you are welcome to dispute. Orun Kabir (talk) 13:37, 2 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Worth a bookmark here this recent finding about willow bark: http://www.concordia.ca/news/stories/cunews/main/stories/2016/03/15/molecules-that-may-keep-you-young-and-alive-vladimir-titorenko-idunn.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.34.85.67 (talk) 17:11, 16 March 2016 (UTC)

wolf willow
the wolf willow is my science project, any info? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.64.104.111 (talk) 01:02, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

lkmmlkm — Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.2.109.102 (talk) 09:28, 30 May 2016 (UTC)