Weeping Willow Tree Facts

Weeping willow tree facts will astonish and amaze you. These beautiful trees are found through North America, Europe and Asia.

Weeping willows are fascinating trees.

Weeping Willow Tree Facts

Weeping willow tree facts may be divided into two sections: facts about the plants and their cultivation, and facts about willows in literature, legend, folklore and music.

Weeping Willow Tree Cultivation Facts

There are more than 400 species of weeping willow trees, with most found in the Northern Hemisphere. Weeping willows cross with one another so easily that new varieties are constantly springing up, both in nature and in cultivation. Willows can be either trees or shrubs, depending upon the plant. In arctic and alpine areas, willows grow so low to the ground that they are called creeping shrubs. Most willows grow to be 40 or more feet tall.

Growing Tips

Weeping willow trees are fast growing. They can easily grow ten feet per year, and dominate the landscape. Their rounded, drooping branches give the tree a distinctive shape. Willows like standing water, and will clear up troublesome spots in the landscape that are prone to pools, puddles and floods. They also like to grow near ponds, streams and lakes.

Weeping willows aren’t fussy about their soil type, and they’re very adaptive. While they prefer moist, cool conditions, they can tolerate some drought. They’re a great choice to create an oasis of shade if you have the space to grow these gentle giants.

Most willows have pretty green foliage and long, thin leaves. In the fall, the color ranges from a light yellow green shade to a pretty blue color, depending upon the type. The trees lose their leaves in the fall. They are ideal to create summertime shade.

Willow Products

Weeping willow trees are used to create many useful items ranging from sports equipment to medicine.

Willow Wood

Stump your friends with trivia questions about willow trees. Willow wood is used to make many items including:

• Cricket bats
• Boxes
• Furniture
• Flutes
• Whistles
• Broom handles
• Fish traps

Willow Trees as Medicine

Willow trees produce an abundant, milky sap. Within the sap is a substance called salicylic acid. In 1763, a British minister named Edward Stone did experiments on willow sap and identified and isolated salicylic acid. The acid caused too much stomach upset to be widely used until 1897 when a chemist named Felix Hoffman created a synthetic version which was gentle on the stomach. His company, Bayer, produced his invention as the first aspirin.

Willows in Art and Literature

Willows are literally used for art. Artists' sketching charcoal is often made from processed willow bark and trees.

Willows are symbolic of death thanks to their weeping form. If you look carefully at paintings and pictures from the Victorian era, you can sometimes spot a funeral painting, or artwork commemorating the death of someone, by the weeping willow tree and other symbols in the picture.

In literature, the most famous literary reference to the willow is perhaps William Shakespeare’s “Willow Song” in Othello. Desdemona, the heroine of the play, sings the song in her despair. You can hear an example and read the musical score and words on Digital Tradition. Many composers have set this song to music, but the version on Digital Tradition is one of the oldest. The earliest written record of The Willow Song is from 1583 and was written for the lute, a stringed instrument like a guitar but with a much softer sound. Shakespeare uses the symbolism of the willow again in Hamlet, when doomed Ophelia breaks willow branches and tosses them into the river where she eventually drowns herself. Willows are referenced also in Twelfth Night.

If you’re a J.K. Rowling fan, you’ll note that the willow is also an important character in the Harry Potter book series. The Whomping Willow is a tree with attitude that lives on the Hogwarts grounds and guards the entrance to a tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack, where the character of Professor Lupin goes when he turns into a werewolf.

• Winter Squash Plants Photos
• Sugar Maple Tree Picture
• What Plants Grow in Winter

• Gardenia Plant Care
• Jasmine
• How to Build an Outdoor Fireplace
• Honeysuckle
• Maple Tree Diseases

• Category:Trees
• Willow
• Main Page