Salix repens

Creeping willow is a bit under-appreciated. It is never going to be a forester’s pride (I imagine species with creeping in the name rarely are). Nor is it particularly rare.

But here are two good things about it:

1. It’s blooming impressive
2. It’s rather lovely

Impressive? Well, whereas rarities like Salix lanata are restricted to calcareous unbrowsed crags in upland areas, Salix repens is tough. It grows in acidic as well as calcareous ground, in the uplands, by the coast (sometimes all but in the sea) and can survive a battering from cattle, deer and sheep. It can take on a diversity of forms & shapes – everything about it seems to be variable.

It flowers very early and the leaves also appear early in the year – on Coll I think it is the first shrub to come into leaf (except from evergreens like Arctostaphylous uva-ursi).

Lovely? Look!

What an absurd number of catkins. If you're going to flower, that's the way to bloomin well do it so it is.

In terms of ID, in lowland environments there are few other species it could be mistaken for in leaf. The Collins wildflower guide describes S. repens as the only lowland dwarf willow species – but S. aurita can grow really low and creeping in lowland environments if heavily browsed. The leaf shape of Salix aurita is distinctive, and in summer it is unlikely these species will be confused.

However, in upland environments, confusion with S. lapponum can occur. I'm yet to encounter an individual of Salix repens which looks much like Salix lapponum, so can't comment too much on that - except from to say that these do occur, and watch out!

Salix repens hybridises with a few other Salix species including grey, dwarf and purple willow. There is even a specimen, which has been proposed as Salix aurita x herbacea x repens. I have only seen the hybrid with Salix aurita. In some parts of Coll, I believe this hybrid, Salix x ambigua, is fairly abundant.