Salix triandra ("Tachiyanagi")

Japanese name: タチヤナギ （立柳）
Scientific name: Salix triandra

[Overview]
A deciduous shrub or small tree 2–8 m tall, found in waterside and moist places such as riverbanks on flat land.
It often grows in colonies.
The bark is grayish brown and does not split lengthwise but peels off in thin flakes.
Young branches are hairless and often tinged white.
The leaves are simple and alternate, narrowly ovate to lanceolate, 5–15 cm long and 1.5–2.5 cm wide, with a pointed tip.
The leaves are hairless on both sides, and the underside is slightly tinged white.
The leaf margin has fine serrations with glands at the tips.
Young leaves are tinged red in the center, and the margin does not curl toward the underside.
The petiole is 1–1.5 cm long, and there are often wart-like glands on the upper part of the petiole.
The stipules are kidney-shaped.
It is dioecious.
The flowers are borne on cylindrical catkins that appear at the same time as the leaves unfold; the catkins are erect and have leaves beneath them.
The male catkins are 2.5–6 cm long.
The flowers have no petals.
The fruit is a capsule, which splits open when ripe and releases seeds wrapped in cottony hairs called ryujo (willow down).

[Uses]
The wood is light and is used for matchsticks and crafted items.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by cuttings.
It prefers sunny, well-drained, moist soil.
Pests and diseases include powdery mildew, rust, longhorn beetles and aphids.

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