Salix pentandra

Salix pentandra
Bay willow with early autumn colours, Kielder, Northumberland
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Salicaceae
Genus:	Salix
Species:	S. pentandra
Binomial name
Salix pentandra L.

Salix pentandra, the bay willow, is a species of

The bay willow is a large

The bay willow occurs naturally in northern Europe and northern Asia. In the British Isles it is most common in Scotland and northern England and is sometimes planted as an ornamental tree elsewhere. It grows beside rivers and streams, on marshy ground and in wet woodland.[4] It occurs beside Llyn Bedydd in Wrexham County Borough, Wales, an uncommon plant in the area.^[5] It has become locally naturalised in northern North America, and is known as laurel willow there.^[6]

Ecology

The foliage is the food plant for the larvae of several species of moth, including Ectoedemia intimella whose larvae mine the leaves. The catkins are attractive to bees and other insects for the nectar and pollen they produce early in the year. This willow is susceptible to watermark disease, which causes branches to die back, and is caused by the pathogenic bacterium Brenneria salicis.^[4]

References