There are several varieties of willow native to Ireland. All grow in damp soil, have catkins or 'pussy willows' that produce seeds, but are most easily grown from cuttings, which root very readily.
Goat willow belongs to the genus Salix and is a member of the willow family (Salix).
Goat willow (Salix caprea) is a deciduous tree growing to 12m and flowering March to April and can live from 150 to 300 years.
Goat willow is dioecious, which means that male and female flowers grow on separate individual trees. Flowers appear before the leaves. Male flowers are grey, stout, oval catkins turning yellow when ripe with pollen. Female flowers are longer, green at first, developing into woolly seeds.
They’re fantastic trees for wildlife providing food not just for bees, but also for moth caterpillars, and as shelter for bats, small mammals and birds. Bees love visiting goat willow in springtime. Willow trees in general are very important for wildlife and collectively support vast numbers of insects and notably moth species.
Goat willow supports a number of micro-moths and larger moths such as the sallow kitten, sallow clearwing, dusky clearwing and lunar hornet clearwing moth. Goat willow is also the primary food plant for the purple emperor butterfly.
Goat willow flowers provide both pollen and nectar for bees, insects and nectar-feeding birds such as blue tits in the critical period of early spring.
Due to the amount of insect inhabitants the tree is popular with many birds as a foraging site.