Salix purpureaL.

Purple Willow

WFO wfo-0000930408 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Salix purpurea, photographed by Yann Kemper
fig. a Yann Kemper, CC0 1.0 / 2022-06-06 / obs. 203953696
Salix purpurea, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. b Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 200306952
Salix purpurea, photographed by Alessia Guggisberg
fig. c Alessia Guggisberg, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 197909270
Salix purpurea, photographed by Jenny Saito
fig. d Jenny Saito, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 180873887
Salix purpurea, photographed by Quentin Groom
fig. e Quentin Groom, CC0 1.0 / obs. 135516533
Salix purpurea, photographed by Christian Berg
fig. f Christian Berg, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 126665928
Salix purpurea, photographed by Mike Bowie
fig. g Mike Bowie, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 120402995
Salix purpurea, photographed by David Sandler
fig. h David Sandler, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 93309410

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 35 botanical countries

Regions where Salix purpurea is native: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, East European Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, Northwest European Russia, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine AlgeriaMoroccoTunisiaNorth CaucasusTranscaucasusTürkiyeAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaEast European RussiaFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKrymNetherlandsNorthwest European RussiaNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSpainSwitzerlandUkraine Sardegna
Native distribution of Salix purpurea, 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
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
Northwest European Russia RUW
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Morocco MOR
Tunisia TUN
North Caucasus NCS ASIA-TEMPERATE
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

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.

Also published as 21 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.

  • Knafia helix Opiz
  • Knafia purpurea (L.) Opiz
  • Salix caesifolia Drobow
  • Salix carniolica Host
  • Salix helix J.Walker
  • Salix helix L.
  • Salix monandra Ard.
  • Salix monandra var. sericea Ser.
  • Salix monandra var. subverticillata Ser.
  • Salix multiformis Döll
  • Salix mutabilis Host
  • Salix olivacea Thuill.
  • Salix oppositifolia Host
  • Salix pontederana Schleich.
  • Salix purpurea f. eriantha Wimm.
  • Salix purpurea f. furcata Wimm.
  • Salix purpurea f. sericea (Ser.) Wimm.
  • Salix purpurea f. styligera Wimm.
  • Salix tenuis Tausch
  • Vetrix purpurea (L.) Raf.
  • Vetrix sicula Raf.

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.