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| ## Bebb Willow {#bebb-willow .Title-Header}                           |
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| *Salix bebbiana* Sarg.                                                |
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| Plant Symbol = SABE2                                                  |
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Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center

### ![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.6972222222222224in" height="4.081944444444445in"}

# Alternative Names

diamond willow, beak willow, long-beaked willow, livid willow, smooth
gray willow, smooth Bebb willow

# Uses

*Ethnobotanic*: A decoction of the branches was taken by women for
several months after childbirth to increase the blood flow (Moerman
1998). A poultice of bark and sap was applied as a wad to bleeding
wounds (Ibid.). A poultice of the damp inner bark was applied to the
skin over a broken bone (Ibid.).

*Economic*: The diamond shaped wood is carved into canes, lampposts,
furniture, and candleholders (Viereck & Little 1972). The wood has also
been used to make furniture, baskets, baseball bats, charcoal, and
gunpowder.

*Wildlife*: snowshoe hares, deer, elk, and moose browse Bebb willow. The
buds, shoots, and catkins are eaten by birds, beaver and small mammals.

*Agroforestry*: Bebb willow is used in forested riparian buffers to help
reduce stream bank erosion, protect aquatic environments, enhance
wildlife, and increase biodiversity.

# Status

# Please consult the Plants Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant's current status, such as, state noxious status and wetland indicator values.

# Description

*General*: Bebb willow (*Salix bebbiana*) is a large native shrub ten
feet tall or a small bushy tree fifteen to twenty-five feet (Viereck &
Little 1972). The leaves are elliptical to oblanceolate; one to three
inches long, and are hairy when young smooth and strongly veined when
old. The fruit is capsules, six to eight millimeters long, long beaked,
and sparsely hairy (Farrar 1995). The bark is thin, reddish,
olive-green, or gray tinged with red and slightly divided by shallow
fissures (Sargent 1961). The roots are shallow and dense.

*Distribution*: Bebb willow range from Alaska south to British Columbia
to east Newfoundland and in northeast United States and upper
mid-western United States. For current distribution, please consult the
Plant profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

# 

# Adaptation

Bebb willow is adapted to a wide variety of soil textures. It prefers
moist sites and is drought tolerant. This species tolerates moderate
alkaline soils but not extremely alkaline conditions. It is frequently
found in swamps, lakes, borders of streams, open woods and forests
(Sargent 1961). Bebb willow is a fast growing but short-lived species
that occurs most commonly under shade of trees where the sites are poor
(Viereck & Little 1972).

# Establishment

*Propagation from Seed*: Seeds must be sown as soon as they are ripe in
the spring. Seeds are viable for only a few days and the maximum storage
period is four to six weeks with germination rates dropping off fast
after ten days at room temperature (Dirr & Heuser 1987). Willow seeds
have no dormancy and germinate within twelve to twenty-four hours after
falling on moist ground (Ibid.). Seedbeds must be kept moist until
seedlings are well established.

*Propagation from Cuttings*: Hardwood cuttings can be collected and
prepared for insertion, normally from November through March. Cuttings
seven to ten inches long and a half to one inch thick are initially
planted close in stool beds and dug after one year (Dirr & Heuser 1987).
Willows have a rooting percentage of ninety to one-hundred percent and
the rooting number is not promoted by rooting hormones (Ibid.).

# Management

The depressions on these willows are caused by one or more fungi, which
attack willows at the junction of a branch with the main trunk (Viereck
& Little 1972). The term "diamond willow" applies to species when the
stems are carved resulting in a pattern of diamond-shaped cavities with
a sharp contrast between the white or cream sapwood and the
reddish-brown heartwood.

# Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

Readily available through native plant nurseries within its area of
distribution. Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service
(formerly Soil Conservation Service) office for more information. Look
in the phone book under "United States Government." The Natural
Resources Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading
"Department of Agriculture."

# 

# References

Britton, N.L. 1908. *North American trees*. Henry Holt & Company, New
York, New York.

Carter, J.L. 1997. *Trees and shrubs of New Mexico*. Mimbres Publishing.

Epple, A.O. 1995. *Plants of Arizona*. Falcon Press, Helena, Montana.

Farrar, J.L. 1995. *Trees of the northern United States and Canada*.
Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa.

Graves, A.H. 1956. *Illustrated guide to trees and shrubs*. Harper &
Brother Publishers, New York, New York.

Great Plains Flora Association 1986. *Flora of the great plains*.
University press of Kansas, Lawerence, Kansas.

MacKinnon, A., J. Pojar, & R. Coupe´ 1992. *Plants of the northern
British Columbia*. Lone Pine Publishing, Canada.

McMinn, H.E. 1939. *An illustrated manual of California shrubs*.
University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, & London.

McMinn, H.E. & E. Maino 1963. *An illustrated manual of Pacific Coast
trees*. University of California Press, Berkeley, California.

Nelson, R.A. 1977. *Handbook of Rocky Mountain plants*. 2^nd^ ed.
Skyland Publishers, Estes Park, Colorado.

Peattie, D.C. 1950. *A natural history of trees of eastern and central
North America*. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts.

Preston, R.J., Jr., 1989. *North American trees*. 4^th^ ed. Iowa State
University Press, Ames, Iowa.

Rehder, A. 1990. *Manual of cultivated trees and shrubs: hardy in North
America*. 2^nd^ ed. Dioscorides Press, Portland, Oregon.

Sargent, C.S. 1961. *Manual of the trees of North America*. Vol. 1.
Dover Publications, Inc., New York, New York.

USDI, GS 2002. *Wetland plants and plant communities in Minnesota and
Wisconsin*. Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, North
Dakota. Accessed: 11jan02.
\<http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/1998/mnplant/sabe.htm\>

Viereck, L.A. & E.L. Little, Jr. 1972. A*laska trees and shrubs*. United
States Department of Agriculture. Agriculture Handbook No. 410,
Washington, D.C.

Vines, R.A. 1960. *Trees, shrubs, and woody vines of the southwest*.
University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas.

# Prepared By:

## *Jammie Favorite*

formerly USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

# Species Coordinator

## *M. Kat Anderson*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, c/o Plant Sciences Dept., Davis,
California

Edited: 19jun02 jsp; 03jun03 ahv; 060816 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require
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large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA\'s [TARGET
Center](http://www.usda.gov/oo/target.htm) at 202-720-2600 (voice and
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*To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of
Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence
Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964 (voice or
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*Read about [Civil Rights at the Natural Resources Convervation
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