Salix caprea
- Height: up to 10 m
- Trunk: Shrub-like or small tree, grey-black, furrowed bark; grey, grey-green branches, initially light-haired and very flexible
- Crown: broad crown
- Leaves: alternate, elliptical to obovate, rounded at the base, twisted tip, upper surface dark green, lower surface grey-green and densely hairy, petiolate
- Buds: red, reddish-brown, or yellow buds, initially hairy, ovate to conical
- Flowers: male, approx. 3 cm long, oval catkins initially covered in dense silvery fuzz, turning pale yellow when pollinating; more inconspicuous female, greenish catkins, appearing long before leaf emergence starting in March; dioecious (a single tree bears either female or male flowers)
- Fruits/Seeds: Seeds with white fuzz often disperse in small clouds in May/June
- Other: Very short-lived pioneer species; the only willow species found exclusively outside of floodplains and swamps
Photos: BUND Naturschutz in Bayern (1,2), Wolfgang Schödel (3)