Autumn Willow

Botanical Name: Salix Serissima
Family: Salicaceae
Native to: Eastern North America, Interior North America
Natural habitat: swamps & bogs, waters edge, floodplains, dunes
Shapes: multi-stemmed, clump
Height: 3-8ft
Growth rate: fast
Common uses: naturalized plantings
Light: full sun
Soil: moist and fertile, tolerates wet feet, wet, sandy

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Autumn willow is a Native deciduous shrub growing about 3 to 8 feet in height. It occurs across North America in thickets, meadows, riverbanks, and calcareous sites; often in swamps with cedar and tamarack or in grasslands.

Leaves are leathery, elliptic to lance-shaped with long, tapering tips and fine serrations. Their colour is somewhat shiny, yellow green to dark green above, lighter and duller underneath. Twigs are erect, multi-stemmed, often forming a clump. The bark is shiny red-brown on young twigs, golden on older branches and grey on the oldest wood.

Stout catkins appear after leaves in June, with female trees eventually producing seeds surrounded by hairy tufts. Autumn willow closely resembles Salix lucida.