Salix purpurea

Purple Willow

Scientific name: Salix purpurea L.

Diagnostic features
Shrub 1.5-5m.
Twigs glabrous, yellowish to purplish-brown, ± glossy.
Leaves often opposite to subopposite, (2)3-8(10) x 0.5-3cm, glabrous, or pubescent at first, entire or obscurely serrate.
Stamen apparently 1.

Chromosome number: 2n=38.

Habitat
Native; damp places.

Distribution
Scattered throughout British Isles, locally common, often planted, probably only introduced in Ireland.

This species is keyed out on Page 1628 and on Page 1636 in the Text Key.

Note
The type has linear-oblong to linear-oblanceolate ± entire leaves. Plants with broader (oblanceolate to narrowly obovate) serrulate leaves are sometimes recognized as Salix purpurea L. ssp. lambertiana (Sm.) Macreight, but many intermediates occur; on the Continent this is commoner in the lowlands, but it is very rare in British Isles.

Hybrids
- Salix triandra x Salix purpurea (Synonym: Salix x leiophylla auct. non E.G. & A. Camus) is known only as a male from an osier-bed in Notts.
- Salix x taylorii Rech. f. (= Salix purpurea x Salix viminalis x Salix caprea x Salix cinerea) has been reported, with some doubt, from Angus; endemic.
- Salix x pontederiana Willd. (= Salix purpurea x Salix cinerea) (Synonym: Salix x sordida A. Kern.) is very scattered in Britain.
- See Salix rubra(x) Huds. (= Salix purpurea x Salix viminalis)
- Salix x confinis E.G. & A. Camus (= Salix purpurea x Salix cinerea x Salix aurita) has been recorded from M Perth.
- Salix x dichroa Döll (= Salix purpurea x Salix aurita) is known from Cheviot.
- Salix x sesquitertia F.B. White (= Salix purpurea x Salix aurita x Salix phylicifolia) has been found in Dumfriess; endemic.
- Salix x beckiana Beck (= Salix purpurea x Salix myrsinifolia) occurs in Midwest Yorks and South Northumb.
- Salix x secernata F.B. White (= Salix purpurea x Salix phylicifolia) is known from South Northumb, Dumfriess and Dunbarton; endemic.
- Salix x doniana G. Anderson ex Sm. (= Salix purpurea x Salix repens) has been found in South Lancs and Mid Perth.

Kingdom Plantae
Phylum Angiospermophyta
Class Magnoliopsida
Subclass Magnoliidae
Superorder Dilleniiflorae
Order Salicales
Family Salicaceae
Genus Salix
Section Vetrix
Species Salix purpurea

Salix purpurea L.

Purple Willow (English)
Willow, Purple [English]
Seileach Corcarach (Gaelic)
Saileach chorcra (Irish)
Helygen Gochlas (Welsh)

Hybrids
Salix triandra x Salix purpurea [Hybrid]
Salix leiophylla(x) auct. non E.G. & A. Camus (syn.) [Hybrid]

Salix taylorii(x) Rech. f. [Hybrid]
(= Salix purpurea x Salix viminalis x Salix caprea x Salix cinerea)

Salix pontederiana(x) Willd. [Hybrid]
(= Salix purpurea x Salix cinerea)
Salix sordida(x) A. Kern. (syn.) [Hybrid]

Salix rubra(x) Huds. [Hybrid]
(= Salix purpurea x Salix viminalis)

Salix confinis(x) E.G. & A. Camus [Hybrid]
(= Salix purpurea x Salix cinerea x Salix aurita)

Salix dichroa(x) Döll [Hybrid]
(= Salix purpurea x Salix aurita)

Salix sesquitertia(x) F.B. White [Hybrid]
(= Salix purpurea x Salix aurita x Salix phylicifolia)

Salix secernata(x) F.B. White [Hybrid]
(= Salix purpurea x Salix phylicifolia)

Salix beckiana(x) Beck [Hybrid]
(= Salix purpurea x Salix myrsinifolia)

Salix doniana(x) G. Anderson ex Sm. [Hybrid]
(= Salix purpurea x Salix repens)

Meikle, R.D., 1984. Willows and Poplars of Great Britain and Ireland. BSBI Handbook No. 4. Botanical Society of the British Isles, London. Illustrated by Victoria Gordon.

Salix purpurea 2 (Male flowers, picture taken in cultivation by J. Mason)
Salix purpurea 3 (Male flowers, picture taken in the Netherlands by H.C. Eggelte)
Salix purpurea 4 (Male flowers, picture taken in the Netherlands by R. van der Meijden)
Salix purpurea a (Leafy branch with male and female catkins and flower details, drawing by V. Gordon in Meikle, 1984; BSBI Handbook 4.)
Salix purpurea b (Leafy branch with male and female catkins and flower details, drawing by V. Gordon in Meikle, 1984; BSBI Handbook 4.)
Salix purpurea c (Leaf, picture by C.A. Stace in Stace, 1997)
Salix sordida(x) a (Leafy branch with male and female catkins and flower details, (= S. cinerea x S. purpurea) drawing by V. Gordon in Meikle, 1984; BSBI Handbook 4.)
Salix doniana(x) a (Leafy branch with male and female catkins and flower details, typical form (= S. repens x S. purpurea), drawing by V. Gordon in Meikle, 1984; BSBI Handbook 4.)
Salix doniana(x) b (Leafy branch with male and female catkins and flower details, Lancaster form (= S. repens x S. purpurea), drawing by V. Gordon in Meikle, 1984; BSBI Handbook 4.)