Click on the images to help you identify a peachleafed willow.
Form
Small to medium tree with weeping branches with one or multiple trunks. The peachleaf willow can attain a height of 60 to 70 feet and trunk diameter of 24 inches.
Bark
Gray, with deep, broad furrows and narrow, interlacing ridges.
Leaf
Leaves are 5.5 inches long and 0.5 to 1.5 inches wide. Leaves appear simple and alternate on stem, and are long, pointed, and lance-shaped with finely toothed margins. Leaves are whitish underneath and borne on long, slender, somewhat twisted stems. The lower surface is pale green or pale blue green.
Fruit (seed)
Capsules containing numerous seeds grouped in dense, elongated clusters known as catkins. Propagation may be easier by cutting than by seed. Seeds are minute, maturing in late spring or early summer.
Range
Native, southern and western Minnesota, especially in riparian areas; hardy throughout.
Wood uses
Wood is light brown, soft, weak, flexible, and coarse-grained. Sapwood is thin and whitish. Used for fuel, erosion control, ornamental plantings, windbreaks, baseball bats, and charcoal. Large, good trees with straight grain are used in the manufacture of artificial limbs. The flexible wood is also used to make dye, furniture, mats, baskets, drums, and tipi pegs. People have used willow for medicinal properties. For example, its salicylic acid has been used to produce aspirin.