WHITE WILLOW BARK[SALIX ALBA]
Listing description
Salix alba (white
willow) is a species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia. The name
derives from the white tone to the undersides of the leaves.
It is a medium-sized to large deciduous tree growing up to 10–30 m tall, with a trunk up to 1 m
diameter and an irregular, often-leaning crown. The bark is grey-brown, and deeply fissured in older trees. The
shoots in the typical species are grey-brown to green-brown. The leaves are paler than most other willows, due to a covering of
very fine, silky white hairs, in particular on the underside; they are
5–10 cm long and 0.5–1.5 cm wide. The flowers are produced
in catkins in early
spring, and pollinated by insects. It is dioecious, with male and female catkins on separate
trees; the male catkins are 4–5 cm long, the female catkins 3–4 cm
long at pollination, lengthening as the fruit matures. When mature in
midsummer, the female catkins comprise numerous small (4 mm) capsules, each containing
numerous minute seeds embedded in white down, which aids wind dispersal.
Detailed
description
Uses
The wood is tough, strong, and light in weight, but has minimal
resistance to decay. The stems (withies) from coppiced and pollarded plants are
used for basket-making. Charcoalmade
from the wood was important for gunpowder manufacture.
The bark tannin was used in the past for tanning leather.[1][2] The wood is
used to make cricket bats. S. alba's wood has a low density and a lower transverse
compressive strength. This allows the wood to bend, which is why it can be used
to make baskets. Willow bark contains Indole-3-butyric acid, which is a plant hormone stimulating root growth; willow
trimmings are sometimes used to clone rootstock in place of
commercially synthesized root stimulator.[4]
Cultivars and hybrids
·
Salix alba 'Caerulea' (cricket-bat willow; syn. Salix
alba var. caerulea (Sm.) Sm.; Salix caerulea Sm.)
is grown as a specialist timber crop in Britain, mainly for the
production of cricket bats, and for other uses where a tough, lightweight wood that does not splinter easily is required. It is
distinguished mainly by its growth form, very fast-growing with a single
straight stem, and also by its slightly larger leaves (10–11 cm long,
1.5–2 cm wide) with a more blue-green colour. Its origin is unknown; it
may be a hybrid between white willow and crack willow, but this is not
confirmed.[1]
·
Salix alba 'Vitellina' (golden willow; syn. Salix alba var. vitellina (L.)
Stokes) is a cultivar grown in gardens for its shoots, which are golden-yellow
for one to two years before turning brown. It is particularly decorative in
winter; the best effect is achieved by coppicing it every two to
three years to stimulate the production of longer young shoots with better
colour. Other similar cultivars include 'Britzensis', 'Cardinal', and
'Chermesina', selected for even brighter orange-red shoots.
·
Salix alba 'Sericea' (silver willow) is a cultivar where the
white hairs on the leaves are particularly dense, giving it more strongly silvery-white
foliage. This cultivar has gained the Royal Horticultural
Society's Award of Garden Merit.[5]
·
Salix alba 'Vitellina-Tristis' (golden weeping willow, synonym
'Tristis') is a weeping cultivar with yellow branches that become reddish-orange
in winter. It is now rare in cultivation and has been largely replaced by Salix
x sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma'.
It is, however, still the best choice in very cold parts of the world, such as
Canada, the northern US, and Russia.
·
The golden
hybrid weeping willow (Salix x sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma')
is a hybrid between white willow and Peking willow Salix babylonica.
Medicinal uses
Hippocrates, Galen, Pliny the Elder and others
knew willow bark could ease aches and pains and reduce fevers.[6] It has long
been used in Europe and China for the treatment of these conditions.[7] This remedy is
also mentioned in texts from ancient Egypt, Sumer, and Assyria.[8] The first
"clinical trial" was reported by Reverend Edward Stone, a vicar from Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, England, in 1763
with a successful treatment of malarial fever with the willow bark.[6][9] The bark is
often macerated in ethanol to produce a tincture.
The active extract of the bark, called salicin, after the Latin name Salix, was
isolated to its crystalline form in 1828 by Henri Leroux, a French pharmacist, and Raffaele Piria, an Italian chemist, who then
succeeded in separating out the acid in its pure state. Salicylic acid, like aspirin, is a chemical
derivative of salicin.
PRICE
$18.13/KG OR $8.24/IB
For more information:
mobile: +2348039721941
contact person: emeaba uche
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