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Creeping Willow

Creeping Willow

Salix repens

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How common: Common

Creeping Willow is a low, many-branched shrub, usually 10–50 cm tall, that spreads with creeping stems. You can see it in open, sandy or peaty places that are seasonally wet, such as heaths, bog edges and shores. In spring it shows short, thick flower clusters before the leaves unfold.

Did you know?

  • Its branches creep along the ground and then turn upward, forming low patches.
  • Tiny pods later split to release seeds with a tuft of white fluff that the wind carries.

About the species

Identification

Low shrub 10–50 cm, with slender yellowish to reddish-brown branches that trail and then rise. Leaves often in pairs, 1–4 cm, narrow oval, tip often slightly slanted; edges rolled under; top shiny green, underside silvery with soft hairs, especially when young. Short, fat flower clusters (catkins) appear in early spring before the leaves; they can look slightly brownish-red. Later, tiny pods split to release seeds with white fluff. Distinguish from other dwarf willows by the creeping stems and narrow, rolled-edged leaves with silvery undersides. Flowers in May in Finland, just before the leaves open.

Plant group

Dwarf shrubs

Habitat

heath forest

Flowering

May

About the habitat

Grows in poor, open ground that is damp or seasonally wet: hollows on dry heaths, edges of bogs, thin-peat fens and meadows, and sandy shores and dunes. Common across the country except Lapland.

Sources

Photo: Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salix repens Wierzba płożąca 2020-07-03 02.jpg

Text: Pinkka: Suomen puuvartiset - Koppisiemeniset. Lähteet: Väre, H., Saarinen, J., Kurtto, A. & Hämet-Ahti, L. (toim.) 2021: Suomen puu- ja pensaskasvio. 3. täysin uudistettu p. – Publications of the Finnish Dendrological Society 10: 1–552 s., CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38570

Text: Pinkka: A Pohjolan kasveja - Rabelera-Ruta, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.38570

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanhenpaju

See also