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Salix purpurea - Richartii Here are two pictures of Salix purpurea, Richartii showing the growth to July.
Picture of Salix purpurea
Close up picture of Salix purpurea JPR Environmental is happy for you to download and copy these images for your own use should you want. However, we would ask you to credit us as the source of the image. Description Salix purpurea is a shrub that can sometimes grow in a low and spreading manner no more than 1.5m high and at other time more robust growing as rounded bush or small tree to 5m high. The bark of the Purple willow is grey and smooth and yellow when the out layer is peeled off. Twigs are glabrous, slender, tough and flexible usually yellow or grey but sometimes tinged with red or purple. Leaves of Salix purpurea are oblong, oblanceolate or narrowly obovate and variable, 2-20cm, in length and, 0.5-3cm, in width. They are a dull dark green above and paler and shinier below. Catkins appear before the leaves in March or
April, sometime as late as May in the north. They are between 1.5
and 3cm long, densely flowered and black. Distribution Salix purpurea is a locally common shrub of river margins and wet ground widely distributed throughout Britain and Ireland. It can be seen, far from habitation or cultivation, by streams or on damp hillsides. There are a number of varieties grown for basket making across the south of England. We have cultivated Dicky Meadows, Dark Dicks, Light Dicks and Richartii at our coppice in Gloucestershire. |
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