Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Salix nigra
Common name
Black Willow
Family
Salicaceae
Where found
Streams, roadside ditches, and swamps. Tablelands. Occasionally ACT.
Notes
Introduced deciduous shrub or tree to 20 m high, usually with a single prominent trunk, sometimes with up to 4 stems. Bark grey, dark brown, or blackish-brown, smooth to deeply fissured, scaly with age. Twigs more or less hairless, shiny, those in the sun dark red-brown, slender, not drooping, moderately brittle at the junctions with the branches. Leaves alternating up the stems, 4–10 cm long, 7–17 mm wide, dark green above, paler below, becoming hairless; margins toothed and with minute glands, tips gradually tapering to a point. Male flower stamens very fragrant. Individual flowers often small, with 0 petals, in cylindrical clusters (catkins), appearing with the new leaves. Male catkins 55–120 mm long with widely spaced flowers, female catkins 40–60 mm long. Male and female trees equally common. Flowers spring. Introduced as seed in the 1960s and spreading aggressively by seed and rooted branches.
Hybrids of Salix nigra x Salix x fragilis are uncommon, recorded from the tablelands.
A Weed of National Significance. General Biosecurity Duty with additional restrictions all NSW. Pest plant ACT. Noxious weed Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Salix~nigra (accessed 5 February, 2021)
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