Scientific name: Salix purpurea L.
Common name: Purple Willow
Description
Habit: A deciduous, large shrub, to 5 m high, spreading, rounded, dense.
Leaves: Alternate or more often opposite, short-stalked, 5-10 cm long, often with narrow stipules that fall early, undivided, oblong to linear, entire or slightly toothed; hairless when mature, bluish-green.
Flowers: Dioecious, appearing before the leaves, small and numerous in erect, catkins 2-4 cm long; solitary in axils of catkin bracts; much reduced, perianth absent; male flowers with 2 stamens, fused to appear as 1; female flowers with 1-celled ovary, numerous ovules, short style and 2 stigmas.
Fruits: A small and broad capsule, containing minute seeds, each with a tuft of silky hairs.
Twigs: Very thin, hairless, straight, purple on upperside, green on underside; buds small, appressed, purplish, protected by a single scale-leaf.
Bark: Light grey.
Habitat: Hedges and copses.Distribution: Rare.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No