The plants around us. Volum III The plant around us. Volume III. Etwining project | Page 24

Salix alba
It is a deciduous tree. Average height- Is 10–30 m
English: white willow
tall with a trunk up to 1 m diameter. Bark colour:
Spanish: sauce blanco
grey, brown to green, brown and deeply fissured in
older trees. The shoots in the typical species are
Estonian: Hõberemmelgas
Leaves
They are 5–10 cm long and
0.5–1.5 cm wide.
The leaves are paler than
most other willows, due to a
covering of very fine, silky
white hairs, in particular on
the underside.
grey-brown to green-brown.
Flowers
The flowers are produced
in catkins in early spring, and
pollinated by insects. It
is dioecious, with male and
female catkins on separate
trees; the male catkins are 4–
5 cm long, the female catkins
3–4 cm long.
Fruit
When mature in midsummer,
the female catkins comprise
numerous small
(4 mm) capsules, each
containing numerous
minute seeds embedded in
white down, which aids wind
dispersal.