Salix repensL.

creeping willow

WFO wfo-0000930388 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Salix repens, photographed by Jais Knudsen
fig. a Jais Knudsen, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-12 / obs. 205446476
Salix repens, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. b Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205229719
Salix repens, photographed by David Sandler
fig. c David Sandler, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203937955
Salix repens, photographed by Jon Mortin
fig. d Jon Mortin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198620933
Salix repens, photographed by Steven Cross
fig. e Steven Cross, CC0 1.0 / obs. 195376323
Salix repens, photographed by Steve Lawson
fig. f Steve Lawson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 188783875
Salix repens, photographed by Michel Langeveld
fig. g Michel Langeveld, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 152033751
Salix repens, photographed by Katrin Simon
fig. h Katrin Simon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 151671332

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 21 botanical countries

Regions where Salix repens is native: Austria, Baltic States, Belgium, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, North European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland AustriaBaltic StatesBelgiumCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkFinlandFranceGermanyIrelandItalyNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalSpainSwedenSwitzerland
Native distribution of Salix repens, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Austria AUT EUROPE
Baltic States BLT
Belgium BGM
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI

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 30 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.

  • Biggina argentea Raf.
  • Diplima arenaria (L.) Raf.
  • Diplima subsessilis Raf.
  • Salix adscendens Sm.
  • Salix ambigua var. microphylla Schultz
  • Salix angustifolia Wulfen
  • Salix arenaria L.
  • Salix argentea Sm.
  • Salix argentea Dum.Cours.
  • Salix decumbens J.Forbes
  • Salix foetida Sm.
  • Salix fusca L.
  • Salix incubacea L.
  • Salix laeta Schultz
  • Salix laeta var. myrtifolia Schultz
  • Salix litoralis Host
  • Salix parvifolia Sm.
  • Salix polymorpha Ehrh.
  • Salix pratensis Host
  • Salix prostrata Sm.
  • Salix repens subsp. argentea (Fr.) A.Camus & E.G.Camus
  • Salix repens var. argentea Rchb.
  • Salix repens var. argentea St.-Lag.
  • Salix repens var. latifolia Neilr.

and 6 more.

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.