Creative Woodworks & crafts 2005-03, страница 41

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Willow is not a long-lived species, and is mature at 55 years and dead by 100. They have been planted extensively in flood prone areas for Hood and erosion control, but if the watercourse tends to meander the roots get washed out and the tree topples. However, suckers will soon sprout and growth will flourish. The problem is that when the stand gets too thick and the shade too dense, the stand dies. If they are important to the environment, thinning is essential.

Willow is a deciduous tree, which means that it loses its leaves in autumn. Black willow leaves are green on the topside, the margins are finely toothed, and the base is rounded.

15lack willow has thick coarse iblackish-brown bark that is I deeply furrowed, and the color Igives it its name. The other j;^: large specics are similar, but Inot as dark, and show a little I more crosshatching in the fur-frows.

The bark, roots and leaves |have bad several uses through-lout the centuries, going back to 1400 BC when Hippocrates ladvised people to chew on the | bark to relieve fever and ifinflammation. It is doubtful | that he was the first person to I recognize willow's health benefits.

| The Native Americans used it as a remedy for aches and pains as well. They also boiled the roots to extract a red dye and used it for food. They taught the early colonists to dry the soft inner bark and then grind the "bast" into a flower; though it is quite bitter, it is full of nutrition. The Europeans were familiar with willow's medicinal qualities and were glad to find that the species in the new world had the same.

In 1829, the natural glucoside "salicin" was isolated from components of the tree and became the key ingredient in aspirin. Scientists have also discovered a number of antioxidant, fever-reducing. antiseptic, and immune-boosting compounds as well, but they are now all synthesized in the lab rather than extracted from trees. Modern herbalists still recommend the bark as a natural herbal remedy and several forms of them arc available in health food stores.

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The bottom of this leaf is more white than green, and is also hairless (whereas the white willow is tapered to both ends and white or silvery underneath, and hairy on both surfaces). Leaf characteristics are very important in determining willow species and subspecies, but are also not the only thing one should consider. Twigs and buds also have characteristics that aid in identification, but still offer challenges to botanists because of their similarity.