Bay Willow - Salix pentandra

It is a large shrub or small tree growing to 14 metres tall. The leaves are glossy dark green, 5-12 cm long and 2-5 cm broad, with a finely serrated margin. The flowers are catkins, produced in late spring after the leaves; the male catkins are yellow, 2-5 cm long, the female catkins greenish, 1.5-3 cm long; The fruit is a small capsule containing numerous minute seeds embedded in white down which aids wind dispersal.

Either obtain confirmation from a County Recorder before submitting a record, or submit detailed images showing key features.  We recommend that you take and retain a specimen; the County Recorder may wish to see this for confirmation. (RPR)

Usually grows near water, often in wet, boggy ground.

Flowers May and June

Deciduous. The flowers are pollinated by bees.

Fairly frequent in Britain, but not one of the more common Willows. It is not as well represented in southern England south of a line from the Wash to the Severn estuary.

Rare as a native species in Leicestershire and Rutland; it has been introduced into some areas in woodland planting schemes

In the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi and Evans 1988) it was found in 1 of the 617 tetrads, but was not recorded in the Flora of Rutland (Messenger 1971).