Salix albaL.

White Willowgolden willowwhite willow

WFO wfo-0000929085 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Salix alba, photographed by Марина Садыкова
fig. a Марина Садыкова, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-12 / obs. 205703057
Salix alba, photographed by Liubov Ilminska
fig. b Liubov Ilminska, CC0 1.0 / obs. 204964431
Salix alba, photographed by Anastasia_Surkova
fig. c Anastasia_Surkova, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203690772
Salix alba, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. d Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 200306896
Salix alba, photographed by Mirko Ubović
fig. e Mirko Ubović, CC0 1.0 / obs. 200004323
Salix alba, photographed by Maurizio
fig. f Maurizio, CC0 1.0 / obs. 199285421
Salix alba, photographed by Elliot Greiner
fig. g Elliot Greiner, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 196648089
Salix alba, photographed by Christian Berg
fig. h Christian Berg, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 194280409

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 51 botanical countries

Regions where Salix alba is native: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Altay, China North-Central, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Inner Mongolia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, Qinghai, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, East European Russia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Netherlands, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine AlgeriaMoroccoTunisiaAfghanistanAltayChina North-CentralCyprusEast Aegean Is.Inner MongoliaIranIraqKazakhstanLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusPalestineQinghaiTibetTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaEast European RussiaFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKritiKrymNetherlandsNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwitzerlandUkraine Sardegna
Native distribution of Salix alba, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
East European Russia RUE
France FRA
Germany GER
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
China North-Central CHN
Cyprus CYP
East Aegean Is. EAI
Inner Mongolia CHI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Kazakhstan KAZ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Qinghai CHQ
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Morocco MOR
Tunisia TUN

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 59 in flower of 222 examined

Peak flowering in Apr. Each bar is the share of Salix alba observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 59 of 222 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 3 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 22 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Argorips alba (L.) Raf.
  • Argorips cerulea (Sm.) Raf.
  • Salix alba f. argentea Wimm.
  • Salix alba f. caerulea (Sm.) Wimm.
  • Salix alba f. ovalis Wimm.
  • Salix alba f. sericea Gaudin
  • Salix alba f. vitellina (L.) Wimm.
  • Salix alba subsp. caerulea (Sm.) Rech.f.
  • Salix alba subsp. vitellina (L.) Schübl. & G.Martens
  • Salix alba var. alba
  • Salix alba var. denudata Wimm. & Grab.
  • Salix alba var. leucophylla Hartig
  • Salix caerulea Sm.
  • Salix fragilis f. vitellina (L.) I.V.Belyaeva
  • Salix massalskyi Goerz
  • Salix micans Andersson
  • Salix pallida Salisb.
  • Salix pameachiana Barratt
  • Salix regalis Wesm.
  • Salix splendens Bray ex Opiz
  • Salix vitellina L.
  • Salix vitellina var. britzensis Ed.Otto

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.