Salix nigra 'Webb'

Salix nigra, the black willow, is the largest native willow of North America and a common deciduous tree of Southern wetlands, but 'Webb' is a strikingly different, vase-shaped form that gathers those loose, streamside branches into a small, dense, upright tree. The habit sets the selection apart at once, tidy and shapely where the wild black willow sprawls, while keeping all the toughness and easy water-loving vigor of the species.

The story behind the plant is a piece of nursery history. This unusual form was introduced by Woodlanders after occurring as a single tree on the farm of Mr. Charles Webb in Madison County, Florida, one of those chance wild variants a sharp eye caught and a nursery carried into cultivation. Nearly every 'Webb' in gardens traces back to that one Florida tree.

Like all willows, the black willow prospers along stream banks and in low, moist ground, and carries the family's ancient medicinal thread as well: the bark holds salicin, long steeped by Native American and European healers for pain and fever, and the distant chemical ancestor of aspirin. That heritage, common to the willows, is set out in the fields below. Slender yellow-green catkins open in spring, feeding early bees, and the strong roots hold a bank as few trees can.

In the garden 'Webb' makes an excellent small, dense shade or specimen tree for a pond edge, a streambank, a rain garden, or any low, wet spot that needs quick cover and soil holding, where the neat vase shape suits a smaller property better than the rangy wild willow. Give full sun and moist to wet ground, and enjoy a well-mannered native with a genuine Woodlanders provenance.