Red willow
Salix bebbiana and related species
Also called Willow, Pussy willow
- Blackfoot
- mohkspotsil
- Blackfoot
- spitsii
- Cree
- mihkopémak
Know another name for this plant, or a different spelling? Tell us.
Willow grows along every creek and slough here, and it is named in the smoking-blend lists of the Blackfeet, Chippewa-Cree, Nakoda and Northern Cheyenne alike. The bark is the original aspirin.
Speak with someone who knows this plant before you harvest it.
Take care
- Willow bark carries salicylates. Not for anyone with an aspirin allergy, and not given to children with a fever.
What it is confused with
Easily confusedRed osier dogwood Cornus sericea
Both are called red willow, which is a genuine and long-standing confusion. Dogwood leaves sit in OPPOSITE pairs and their veins stretch into fine white threads when a leaf is torn slowly. Willow leaves alternate and do not.
How to know it
- Twigs
- Slender, flexible, red to yellow-brown, and they snap cleanly away at the base rather than tearing.
- Leaves
- Narrow and spear-shaped, pointed at the tip, green above and dull grey-green beneath, alternating up the stem.
- Catkins
- Soft grey catkins in very early spring, often before the leaves.
- Where
- Wet low ground. Willow follows water, which makes it a good sign of where water is.
The country it grows in
- Riverbanks and willow flats
- Sloughs and wet meadows
- Aspen parkland
Landscape types only. We do not publish where a patch is, and we are not going to.
When it is ready
- Bark March to AprilThe week before the leaves come out, or the week after they fall. Cut high enough to get the reddest part, then scrape the bark within a day.
- Stems October to April
- Leaves May to August
Right now it is July. Something on this plant is in season.
What it is used for
- Skin and wounds
- Smudge and ceremony
- Tools and materials
- Stomach and digestion
Named in the Blackfeet, Chippewa-Cree, Nakoda, Assiniboine, Northern Cheyenne and Little Shell blends recorded in the Montana guide.
Every part of the tree is used: baskets, bows, tools, frames, and the inner bark for pain.
How it is prepared
- Simmered
A teaspoon of inner bark in two cups of water, boiled down to one cup, strained and cooled.
Aspirin-type properties. Same cautions as aspirin: not with an aspirin allergy, not for children with a fever.
- Dried and stored
Scraped inner bark is dried and toasted before being blended.
Protocol
Ask the plant first, and offer something before you take anything. Tobacco is what is most often offered here. Say who you are, and say what the medicine is for.
Harvest the mature plants and leave the small ones to grow. Never take the first plant you find, and never take all of them.
Take only what you will actually use. Medicine picked and then left to rot in a bag was taken for nothing.
Leave the ground as you found it. Put back any dirt you dug up, and return any plant material you do not use to the earth.
Do not gather beside roads, highways or trails, where the plants take up whatever has been sprayed or spilled there.
If you are not certain what a plant is, do not pick it and do not put it in your mouth. Ask someone. Being wrong in the field is how people get hurt.
Cut whole stems at the base rather than stripping bark from a living standing stem. A cut stool sends up new red shoots; a ringed stem dies.