Eared Willow - Salix aurita

It is a shrub to 2.5 m in height, distinguished from the similar but slightly larger Salix cinerea by its reddish petioles and young twigs. It was named for its persistent kidney-shaped stipules along the shoots. Flowers are in the form of catkins with male and female flowers on separate plants.

Photographs showing mature leaves and stipules (RPR)

Damper areas including woodland edge, scrub and hedgerows.

In flower during May and June.

Perennial.

Most common in northern and western Britain, more scattered elsewhere.

Scarce in Leicestershire and Rutland.

In the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi and Evans 1988) it was found in 10 of the 617 tetrads, but was not recorded in the Flora of Rutland (Messenger 1971).

It is listed on the current VC55 Rare Plant Register (Hall and Woodward 2022) as Locally Scarce (i.e. present in 4-10 sites)