Willow family
Description
A family of trees and shrubs, most occurring in the northern temperate regions.
The leaves are alternate, deciduous, simple and with stipules. The flowers are unisexual, dioecious, and borne in catkins. The flowers have no perianth, only a basal bract, the male ones with 2-many stamens (Salicaceae 2), the female ones (Salicaceae 3) with a superior ovary. The trees are wind-pollinated. The fruit is a capsule, the seeds bear silky hairs.
There are two genera.
Use
The family provides timber with a number of special uses, e.g. cricket bats, baskets and other wickerwork; pollard shoots are used in construction works as basement for roads and dikes on weak soils (Salicaceae 1).
Described species
Salix sp., willow