Pussy Willow (Salix discolor)

Description

Latin: Salix discolor

Zones:4-8

Other common names: Pussy Willow

Mature Height:  It is a weak-wooded deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 6 m tall, with brown shoots.

Soil / Climate: Full sun. Moist, well-drained soil. It is native to the northern forests and wetlands of Canada British Columbia east to Newfoundland and the northeastern contiguous United States, Idaho south to Wyoming, and east to Maine and Maryland

Notes: Quick growing.  Use in screens or as specimen plants. :The leaves are oval, 3–14 cm long and 1-3.5 cm broad, green above and downy grey-white beneath. The flowers are soft silky silvery catkins, borne in early spring before the new leaves appear. The fruit is a small capsule 7–12 mm long containing numerous minute seeds embedded in cottony down.  Like other willows, it was used by Native Americans as a painkiller. Today it is used mostly as a table decoration.