It’s elegant and endearing, but can be downright depressing too… A Willow tree, my friends, is a strange creature! The sight of raindrops trailing down the thin, drooping branches of a weeping willow is as memorable as its melancholy. Weeping willow, along with pussy willow and black willow is among the most popular varieties of willow trees. The willow can be propagated by both seeds and cuttings. Of the approximately 400 species of willow trees found the world over, only about 75 are found in North America. A tad sad, isn’t it? Here’s a list of some really interesting facts about willow trees, hope you’ll find it amusing…
- Wood from willow trees might be too soft to be used for lumber but is popular for wickerwork and making baskets. The bark from some willow varieties was used in treating inflammation and fever and is considered by many to be the predecessor to aspirin!
- Willow trees thrive in cool, moist conditions and are quite common around water bodies. They’re also pretty vigorous, growing at a rate of approximately 10 feet a year. Broken branches of willow trees have been known to grow into new trees, irrespective of their position in the soil!
- Willows are useful pioneer species and are popularly used to repopulate ecosystems damaged or disrupted by fires and other hazards.
- Weeping willow is a very common in cemeteries in China and Turkey where the tree is deemed a symbol of profound grief. According to lore, Alexander the Great dropped his crown while passing under a weeping willow tree as he was crossing the Euphrates River. Soothsayers of the time took this as a sign of his imminent downfall!