Plant · P-140

White Willow

Salix alba

White Willow is a fast-growing waterside tree that pays for its space in chicken and goat feed - its dried leaves run about 17 percent crude protein, rated as good as alfalfa for poultry, and it tolerates being cut back hard again and again for cut-and-carry fodder. Its bark contains salicin, the compound aspirin is built from, long used for pain and fever, and its flexible young shoots are a traditional material for baskets and charcoal and a rooting aid for cuttings of other plants. It needs steady moisture and full to partial sun, but its aggressive, moisture-seeking roots make it dangerous within about 50 feet of septic lines, water mains, foundations or driveways, and it can take over a pond margin if left uncut.