Common name: Black Willow
Salix nigra Marshall APNI* 
Description: Spreading shrub or tree to 20 m high usually with a single prominent trunk, sometimes up to 4 stems, crown comparatively open; bark grey, smooth to deeply fissured and scaly with age; twigs, shiny, those in the sun dark red-brown, ± glabrous, slender, not drooping.
Leaves narrow-lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 4–10 cm long, 7–17 mm wide, dark green above, paler below, glabrescent; margins regularly minutely glandular-toothed.
Male and female trees equally common. Male catkins 6–12 cm long with widely spaced flowers; stamens 4–7 per flower; very fragrant; female catkins 4–6 cm long, ovary stalked.
Capsules 4.5–5.5 mm long.
Distribution and occurrence: introduced as seed in the 1960s and spreading aggressively by seed and rooted branches in rivers and roadside ditches. Native of N America.
NSW subdivisions: *NC, *CC, *ST, *SWS
Other Australian states: *Vic. *S.A.
Hybrids of S. nigra x S. fragilis are uncommon but recorded from ST. See also NSW WeedWise profile.
Text by S.W.L. Jacobs & L. Murray (2000); edited by P. Lu-Irving (Nov 2024)
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 1 Suppl. (2000)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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