Salix nigra
Object Details
- Description
- Anyone with a passing familiarity with herbal medicine has likely heard of willow bark as it relates to aspirin. Known since the time of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians as a treatment for stiff joints and reducing fevers, chemists first isolated salicylic acid from willow bark in the 1820s. Eventually, a synthetic form was produced and used to create modern aspirin. While black willow was not the first willow from which salicylic acid was isolated, it is a native North American tree which has the same properties and was used for the same purposes as European willows.
- Hardiness
- -30 - 30 F
- Attracts
- Butterflies, birds
- Bloom Time
- March to April
- Ethnobotanical Uses
- Papago used split twigs in basketry and weaving. Red and yellow dyes can be made from the tree, and a tanning agent can be extracted from the bark. Early pioneers boiled the bark to remove vermin.
- Medicinal / Pharmaceutical
- Various Native American tribes used this tree as an antiperiodic, anti-rheumatic, antiseptic, astringent, analgesic, antidiarrheal, blood medicine, carminative, cough medicine, dermatological aid, febrifuge, gastrointestinal aid, orthopedic aid, respiratory aid, throat aid, and tonic.
- Provenance
- Collected directly from the wild; origin known
- Data Source
- Smithsonian Gardens
- Accession Number
- 2019-0313A
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Life Form
- Deciduous tree
- Average Height
- 30-60'
- Bark Characteristics
- Dark brown to black. Developes deep grooves and shaggy scales as it ages. Leaf scars are narrow crescents.
- Bloom Characteristics
- Male and female flowers are both yellow-green and grow in catkins which appear as the leaves emerge. 2" long.
- Dioecious
- Yes.
- Fall Color
- Yellowish
- Foliage Characteristics
- Simple, alternate, lance-shaped leaves with serrate margins. 6" long.
- Fruit Characteristics
- Red-brown capsules which split open in summer.
- Structure
- Round to irregular
- Range
- N. Mexico; USA; E. Canada
- Habitat
- Riparian
- See more items in
- Smithsonian Gardens Tree Collection
- Common Name
- Black Willow
- Dudley Willow
- Goodding
- Swamp Willow
- Group
- [vascular plants]
- Class
- Equisetopsida
- Subclass
- Magnoliidae
- Superorder
- Rosanae
- Order
- Malpighiales
- Family
- Salicaceae
- Genus
- Salix
- Species
- nigra
- Topic
- Trees
- Living Collections
- Record ID
- ofeo-sg_2019-0313A
