CautionNot food
Black willow
Salix nigra
The creek aspirin tree. Narrow leaves, brittle twigs, catkins in spring.
- Marks
- Wet feet; narrow finely-toothed leaves; brittle twigs
- Size
- 30–60 ft
- Habitat
- Laughery banks, ditches, wet fence corners.
- Season
- Catkins April; leaf through October.
- Frequency
- common
A fast, often leaning tree of wet ground. Leaves are narrowly lance-shaped with a fine saw edge, shiny green above. Twigs snap easily. Bark on old trunks is dark and deeply ridged.
Uses
Inner bark decoction as an adult pain tea — same warnings as aspirin. See Apothecary. Soft firewood.