Scientific name: Salix caprea L.
Common name: Goat Willow
Description
Habit: A deciduous tree, to 10 m high, upright with erect branches.
Leaves: Alternate, short-stalked, up to 10 cm long but larger on coppiced shoots, often with stipules that fall early; undivided, oval-oblong or nearly round, often with sharp pointed tip; dark green, smooth and nearly hairless on upperside, wrinkled and hairy lowerside.
Flowers: Dioecious, small and numerous in erect or pendulous catkins; solitary in axils of catkin bracts; much reduced, perianth absent; male flowers with 2-5 stamens; female flowers with 1-celled ovary, numerous ovules, short style and 2 stigmas.
Fruits: A small capsule, containing minute seeds, each with a tuft of silky hairs.
Twigs: Stems yellowish-brown, hairy when young, becoming hairless; buds protected by a single scale-leaf.
Bark: Older bark dark brown.
Habitat: Scrub, hedges, woods, limestone pavement.Distribution: Occasional and locally frequent on the limestone, rare elsewhere.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No