Scientific name: Salix repens L.
Common name: Creeping Willow
Description
Habit: An undershrub, with creeping rhizomes; to 1.5 m high, often much less.
Stems: Erect, spreading or trailing.
Leaves: Alternate, short-stalked, 5-40 mm long, undivided, untoothed, oval to linear-lanceolate, variable, silvery with silky hairs at least when young, with rolled back margin, stipules lanceolate or absent.
Flowers: Dioecious, appearing before the leaves, small and numerous in ovoid catkins to 2.5 cm long; solitary in axils of catkin bracts; much reduced, perianth absent; male flowers with 2 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: Reddish, slender, hairy when young; buds protected by a single scale-leaf.
Habitat: Heathy and rocky ground especially on the mountains, limestone pavement, stony lake-shores, rarely on sand-dunes. Distribution: Frequent and locally abundant.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No