Salix fluviatilis
Fast-growing, dioecious deciduous shrub or small tree native to the northwest United States forming extensive riverbank thickets, tolerating wet and dry conditions, rapidly colonizing moist sand and gravel with a dense root system that stabilizes banks, providing nectar for butterflies and bees, and with bark used medicinally for fevers as well as for making basketry and string, while some forms are multi-stemmed compact shrubs colonizing sandy riverbanks along the Columbia River
Common Names
Columbia River Willow, River Willow
Summary
Columbia River Willow is a deciduous shrub or small tree typically 20 to 30 ft tall (6 to 9 m), usually multi stemmed and spreading, with a main trunk up to 100 cm in diameter, leaves are alternate, long and narrow, 5 to 15 cm long, catkins appear at the ends of leafy branches in late summer after leaf development and persist into winter, new twigs are densely forward pointing hairy, mature twigs smooth or waxy, bark gray brown and scaly, it commonly grows along riverbanks, sandbars, shrub swamps, wet prairies, roadside ditches, at low to moderate elevations on both sides of the Cascades, range along the Columbia River, west of Portland, extending south to Oregon's Lynn and Lane Counties and along river banks from the Deschutes River mouth to the Willamette's lower reaches, ecologically valuable by shading fish habitats when planted near water, buds and catkins eaten by birds and small mammals, nectar attracts butterflies and bees, some native butterfly larvae use willows as host plants, tolerates both wet and dry conditions and is valuable for native plant gardens and erosion control, commonly grows in sandy habitats above the water line and colonizes by rooting shoots, uses include ornamental planting near water, early blooming for shade, and decorative pussy willows, the wood contains a plant hormone that stimulates root growth, native peoples in western Washington and Oregon used willow wood for construction and fibers for fishing and hunting
Lifecycle
Perennial
Height
240-360 inches
Hardiness Zones
Zones 3-7
Sunlight Requirements
Ideally full Sun.
Soil Type
Moist, heavy soil
Soil Drainage
Damp to wet soils, tolerant of ill-drained or intermittently flooded conditions, and able to grow in well-drained sandy or gravelly substrates.
Soil pH
Mildly acidic to neutral pH
Bloom Color
Yellow
Bloom Time
Summer (June to July)
Foliage Color
Brown or green
Leaf Lifecycle
Deciduous
Growth Rate
Fast
Seasons of Interest
Summer
Propagation Methods
Seeds and Cuttings
Attracts Wildlife
Attracts bees, butterflies, other pollinators, birds
Taxonomy
- Taxonomic Rank
- Species
- Author
- Nutt.
- Publication
- N. Amer. Sylv. 1: 73 (1817)
- Synonym Of
- Salix melanopsis