Almond Willow - Salix triandra

A robust spreading shrub or small bushy tree to 10 metres. Bark flaking in large irregular patches, to expose a reddish brown under layer. Leaves, lanceolate, regularly and conspicuously serrate edged. Stipules often large and persistent. Catkins appearing with, or a little in advance of the leaves, erect on short leafy shoots. Male catkins narrowly cylindrical, 2.5 to 5 cm long and 0.3 to 1.2 cm wide, dense flowered, showy and fragrant, uniformly pale yellow. Female catkins usually rather shorter and denser than the male.

The County Recorder has asked for a specimen of this plant to be retained for verification

Wet ditch banks, marshy areas.

Catkins April and May.

Deciduous.

Local and occasional, mainly south of a line from the Humber to the Severn.

Scarce in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 37 of the 617 tetrads.

It is on the local VC55 Rare Plant Register