Salix cinerea commonly known as Grey Willow also known as
Large Grey Willow is native to Europe and Western Asia. It will often colonies
boggy ground, but it will also do well in all but the driest soils. Good in
exposed and coastal areas. Tolerant of very wet soil with low oxygen levels.
It is a deciduous shrub or small tree. It is growing 4 – 15
(13 – 50 ft) in height. The bark is dark grey with shallow ridges.
The leaves of Grey Willow are spirally arranged. They are
more oval than typical willow, but not as broad or as wrinkly as the Goat
Willow, are 2.5 – 10 cm (1 – 4 in) long and 1 – 3 cm (0.4 – 2.4 in) board,
sometime can be up 16 cm (6 in) long and 5 cm (2 in) board. The color of the
leaves are top side green and below hairy silver, with crenate margin.
The flowers of S. cinerea are produced in early spring and
the male and female catkins appear on separate trees. The flowers provide
valuable early pollen for foraging bees. It is the food plant of several
species of butterfly including the Purple Emperor and Camberwell Beauty. The
male flowers are the densely silvery-hairy, and 2 – 5 cm (0.8 – 2 in) long flowers
well known as Pussy Willow. The male catkins are silvery at first, turning
yellow when the pollen is released. The female flowers are greenish-grey and
maturing in early summer to release the numerous tiny seeds embedded in white
cottony down which assists wind dispersal.
The fresh bark of all members of this genus contains salicin,
which probably decomposes into salicylic acid (closely related to aspirin) in
the human body. This is used as an anodyne and febrifuge. The bark of this
species is used interchangeably with S. alba. It is taken internally in the
treatment of rheumatism, arthritis, gout, inflammatory stages of auto-immune
diseases, diarrhea, dysentery, feverish illnesses, neuralgia and headache. The
leaves are used internally in the treatment of minor feverish illnesses and
colic.
Salix caroliniana, commonly known as Coastal Plain Willow is native to the southeastern USA, Mexico, Caribbean Islands and the parts of Central America.
It is a shrub or small tree. It’s generally grows in wet areas and along ponds and lakes edges. Typically it grows 5 – 9 m (16 – 30 f) in height, in Florida occasionally it can be grow higher. Often as broad as tall or broader. The shape of the tree is irregular crown. The trunk is short, and often leaning. The bark color is gray, roughened with ridges and furrows. The smooth bark is not particularly outstanding. It is described by Argus as "having branches dark to light brown, glabrous or sparsely pubescent (coated with soft hairs); branchlets reddish brown to yellowish brown, brittle at branch base, with bud scale margins free and overlapping.
S. caroliniana is a deciduous tree. The leaves are temperate, light green in color. These are long and narrow, about 20 cm (8 in) long and 2 - 5 cm (1 - 2 in) broad. There have little grooves both edges of the leaves.
The flowers of Coastal Plain Willow are White in color are appeared in the early spring, either before or together with the emergence of leaves. The spear shaped capsule are green in color. When it becomes mature and buster numbers of seeds comes out. Every seeds contain white cotton to wind dispersed seeds
It is erect or sub erect annual herbaceous plant grows 30 –
110 cm (12 – 43 in) in height with articulated shoots. It grows in moist and
shady places. The stems quadrangular, glabrous with longitudinal furrows and
wings along the angles. Petioles up to 1 cm long and the lance-shaped leaves
hairless blades measuring up to 12 cm (5 in) long and 1.5 – 2.5 cm (0.5 – 1 in)
wide, entire, acuminate, 4 – 6 lateral vined, color dark green.
The small flowers in lax panicles, up to 9 cm (3.5 in) long.
Pedicels up 5 mm long, glandular pubescent. Bracts 2 mm long, lanceolate. Sepals
up to 4 mm long, linear-lanceolate, segments equal, glandular-pubescent on the
outside. Corolla up to 16 mm (6.5 in) long, white, lower lip deeply 3 lobed
with deep purplish marking inside at the base, upper lip notched or 2 toothed.
Stamens 2, filaments hairy, exerted, anther cells oblong, base bearded. Ovary
seated on a small disc, style slender, stigma minutely bifid. The fruit is a
capsule up to 2 cm (0.80 in) long and 4 mm wide, linear-oblong, acute at base,
pointed at apex. The seeds are 2 mm long, sub quadrate, yellowish-brown in
color.
It is mainly distributed South Asian country like as India,
Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. It can be found in a variety of habitats, such as
plains, hillsides, coastlines, and also cultivated or wildly grows areas such
as roadsides, farms, and wastelands. The herb is some species in northern parts
of India, Java, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Brunei,
Singapore, the West Indies, and elsewhere in the Americas.
Mostly the leaves and roots were used for medicinal purposes
also the whole plant is used in some cases. Very widely used as a medicine in
liver complaints and as a febrifuge. Commonly substituted for Chirata (Swertia
chirata Ham.) by the crude drug dealers. It has been used in Siddha and
Ayurvedic medicine, and promoted as a dietary supplement for cancer prevention
and cure.
The seeds should be conserved in seed banks, and large-scale
cultivation should be taken up to ease pressure on the wild population. The seeds
are sown during May and June. The seedlings are transplanted at a distance of
60 cm and cultivation near homesteads.
