Sage-leaved willow
Salix salviifolia
Family · Salicaceae · Harmless
The willow of Portuguese inland streams, with leaves white-felted beneath and wrinkled like sage, which is where the name comes from.
Streams and ditches · Uplands · Fields and pasture
Also known asIberian willow
How to tell it
A shrub or small tree to six metres, much branched from the base. Elongated leaves with a rolled edge, dull green and wrinkled above, densely white-felted beneath, which makes the shrub look silver when wind turns the leaves. Catkins before or with the leaves. Iberian endemic.
What it is confused with
Grey willow
Salix atrocinerea
Grey willow has broad flat leaves, green on both sides, with rusty hairs beneath; sage-leaved willow has narrow wrinkled leaves, white-felted beneath, with a rolled edge. Neither is dangerous.
Open sheet →What it is for
Willow bark contains salicin, the compound that gave rise to aspirin, and was chewed for pain and fever across Europe. Traditional use, in the past. The flexible stems gave basketry and withies. It is a key tree for holding stream banks that otherwise wash away in floods.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.