Salix lanata
Woolly willow (Salix lanata) is truly woolly. This small deciduous shrub has hairy, silvery-green foliage. And it’s not just the leaves that are hairy. Its young branches are covered with white wool.
Golden male catkins appear between May and September. These golden catkins shine for months, contrasting beautifully with woolly willow’s silvery leaves. And being an early bloomer, the male shrub keeps the pollinators happy. The female shrub blooms soon after the male but with rounder catkins that eventually elongate. The main advantage of being a dioecious plant (a plant with only male reproductive structures or female reproductive structures in its flowers) is the potential for high genetic diversity. When a male plant pollinates a female plant, the resulting offspring will have a mix of genes from both parents.
This sturdy and handsome little bush is native to high latitudes in Europe and Asia, extending down to Scotland. But all is not well in the land of woolly willow in Scotland. Its populations are mostly very small and isolated because of overgrazing by sheep and deer. Then add to that climate change. Woolly willow has become an endangered species in Scotland.
The pictures of woolly willow were taken in May at VanDusen in the White Garden. Our one and only woolly willow at VanDusen is a female. She seems content in her peaceful place. She came to our garden as a cutting from UBC Botanical Garden and was planted in 1994.
The last three pictures are of woolly willows in Iceland. They are growing in a field beside pools of steaming volcanic water. A wild and wonderful scene. These pictures were taken by Judy Ashton.
Text and other photos by Hughie Jones