Willow do walk

Goat willow Salix caprea is not a tree with a high profile like the mighty oak or the graceful beech. It's shrubby and undistinguished and best known for its 'pussy willow' catkins in the springtime - buds of soft grey fur like kittens' paws. It grows in damp marshy places and is therefore common in Wales. Its English name alludes to its appeal to browsing animals who can easily reach to tug at its low branches.

Like other native trees, willows have a rich folklore. In particular there was a sinister belief that the willow could uproot itself and stalk a benighted traveller, giving rise to a folk song that went
Ellum do grieve,
Oak he do hate,
Willow do walk
If you travels late.
Heading home after dark must have been a fearful business when you half expected to hear the rustle of twigs behind you on the muddy path.

There are over 400 species of willow and many of them hybridize. Their study has engaged some botanists for a lifetime and has given rise to a particular branch (!) of the subject called salicology. It's no secret of course that salicylic acid, a precursor of aspirin, was first isolated from willow bark in the 19th century but for centuries before that willow was used to soothe fevers and relieve pain. By the doctrine of signatures, the fact that it grew in damp places suggested it was good for the treatment of agues. Which was correct.

The wetland bogs of Russia and Siberia sustain vast and impenetrable willow forests. In 1942 one of the RAF Bomber Command's Handley Page Hampden twin-engine aircraft was shot down on a mission to Murmansk. Over 50 years later the wrecked plane was disinterred from a swamp and returned to the UK where enthusiasts set about restoring it. In 2003 some seeds were found within the engine and were germinated. Three of the resulting saplings were planted at the RAF museum in Hendon, London, in memory of the three crew members who lost their lives. Those trees are goat willows.

Hawkwind Goat Willow 1974