Ash willow

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Ash willow
Ash willow (Salix cinerea)

Ash willow ( Salix cinerea )

Systematics
Rosids
Eurosiden I
Order : Malpighiales (Malpighiales)
Family : Willow family (Salicaceae)
Genre : Willows ( Salix )
Type : Ash willow
Scientific name
Salix cinerea
L.

The Salix cinerea ( Salix cinerea ), also gray-pasture called, is a plant from the genus of willow ( Salix ) within the family of the pasture plants (Salicaceae).

description

illustration
Branches with the top and bottom of alternate, stalked leaves

Vegetative characteristics

The ash willow grows as a deciduous shrub that usually reaches heights of 2 to 4, rarely up to 6 meters. It has sparsely protruding branches. Free-standing specimens show a characteristic hemispherical shape, by which the species can be recognized from a distance. The bark of young twigs is cinnamon brown and has short velvety hairs. The gray, smooth bark is interspersed with brown cork warts . The “bare wood” of the two to four year old twigs has clear welts several centimeters long. The strikingly large bud scales are never red or red-brown (to distinguish them from similar species). Both the German common name and the scientific name refer to the "gray" -green appearance, which is due to the relatively thick hairs ( trichomes ) and which is particularly noticeable in the spring after the leaves have sprouted.

The alternate leaves arranged on the branches are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The simple leaf blade is elliptical to obovate with a length of 5 to 9 centimeters with a narrowed blade base and a short, mostly straight tip. The leaf margin is sawn. The upper side of the leaf has weakly sunken leaf veins and the blue-green, densely hairy leaf underside has clearly recognizable leaf veins. Stipules are mostly present.

Generative characteristics

The ash willow is a dioecious separate-sex plant ( diocyte ). The flowering time is in March and April, the inflorescences appear as typical willow catkins before the leaves shoot . The kittens are up to 2 inches long. The bracts are two-colored, bearded and densely hairy. The stamens are hairy at their base. The long-stalked ovary is hairy.

The gray-green capsule fruit ripens at the beginning of May and pops open with the flaps bent back.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 76.

Habitus in the habitat

ecology

The ash willow usually only grows like a bush. It is a pioneer plant on wet soils . The species endures standing with "one foot" in the water for a long time. That is why it penetrates furthest towards the water in silting zones. If the wetlands are not cared for, it can overgrow the species-rich pre-vegetation and is therefore undesirable. In drained swamp meadows, the remaining ash pastures show that there was once a greater biodiversity here.

Due to the early flowering period, the ash willow is an important bee pasture for bumblebees , honeybees and wild bees . The pollination is done by insects.

The seeds are spread by the wind ( meteorochory ).

Distribution area: green: Salix cinerea and orange: Salix atrocinerea bread. (Syn .: Salix cinerea subsp. Oleifolia Macreight )

Occurrence

The natural distribution area of the ash willow is in Europe and western Siberia .

In wetlands, ash-willow bushes stand out from afar due to their gray-green color and a dense, often almost hemispherical growth. The ash willow prefers to grow on wet meadows , in swamps , moors , on stagnant and slowly flowing water and in ditches, on sandy and clay soils . It is a weak characteristic species of Salicetum cinereae from the Association Salicion cinereae, but also comes in plant communities of the Association Salicion albae or Salici-Viburnetum the Association Berberidion ago.

Others

The ash willow mostly occurs naturally, plantings are rare due to the low use compared to other types of willow. For this reason it was used for scientific studies on the gender ecology of pastures. The ratio of female to male specimens is 2: 1.

Hybrids

The ash willow ( Salix cinerea ) often hybridizes with other early-flowering, closely related species:

  • Salix × krausei Andersson : Salix triandra ( almond willow ) × S. cinerea
  • Multi-veined willow ( Salix × multinervis Döll ): Salix aurita ( ear willow ) × S. cinerea
  • Reichardt-Weide ( Salix × reichardtii Kern. ): Salix caprea ( Sal-Weide ) × S. cinerea
  • Silk leaf willow ( Salix × holosericea Willd. ): Salix viminalis ( basket willow ) × S. cinerea
  • Salix × Pontederiana Willd. : Salix purpurea ( purple willow ) × S. cinerea

More pictures

  • Appearance in spring. The typical, hemispherical growth and the gray-green appearance are easy to see

  • Female catkins with honeybees

  • Male catkins with honey bee collecting pollen

  • Male flowers with the reddish bracts often found in this species in the catkin

  • Fruit stand at the end of April (the fruit capsules are still closed)

  • Popping capsule fruits with seeds and flying hair

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas. 8th edition. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 , p. 308.
  2. ↑ Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of the plants of Germany and neighboring countries. The most common Central European species in portrait . 7th, corrected and enlarged edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1 .
  3. ↑ MC Alliende, JL Harper: Demographic Studies of a dioecious tree. I. Colonization, Sex and Age Structure of a Population of Salix cinerea. In: Journal of Ecology. Volume 77, No. 4, 1989, pp. 1029-1047, JSTOR 2260821

Web links

Commons : Gray Willow ( Salix cinerea )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files