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Florida Willow

Salix floridana

Also called Salix chapmanii.

A rare willow of Southern spring runs and wet, limy woods, with broad leaves glossy above and whitish beneath and catkins in late winter.

RareTolerates wet soil

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 6–20 ft
USDA zones: 8–10
Growth rate: Fast
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Wet
Grows wild in: Stream banks, floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats
Native range: Alabama, Florida and Georgia See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Florida willow is a rare willow of cool spring runs, seepy swamps and wet, limy floodplain woods on the coastal plain of Florida, southwest Georgia and southeast Alabama. Its broad, oblong leaves are glossy green above and whitish beneath, much wider than those of the Carolina willow that often grows beside it. About 35 stands are known, most with only a few plants. It has been under review for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act since 2011. Florida and Georgia list it as endangered. Plant it beside a spring, a spring-fed stream or a wet woodland opening, where it gets some sun.

Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates this willow's growth, and willows as a group grow fast, so our growth estimator treats it as a fast grower, nearly three feet a year in its youth. It makes a slender shrub or small tree of 6 to 20 feet, often with several trunks and a broad, bushy crown.

Catkins open from February into April as the leaves come, the males with showy yellow stamens. The fruit ripens in April and May, a capsule about a quarter inch long that splits to release cottony seed. The leaves are 2 to 6 inches long, glossy green above and whitish beneath.

It grows wild in scattered stands on the coastal plain from southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia through north and central Florida. Its home is the edges of cool, clear spring runs, seepy swamps, wet hammocks and floodplain woods on limy soils. NatureServe ranks it imperiled to vulnerable, and only two of the six stands seen in Georgia since 1902 survive.

How to grow Florida Willow

Florida willow wants ground that stays wet and limy, such as the edge of a spring run, a seepy swamp or a floodplain, and it takes flooding. Give it part shade or an opening with some sun, since young plants fail in deep shade. Plant it 8 feet from a wall and set plants 10 feet apart. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line and put the wet native soil back in. Willow seed lives only a few weeks, so sow it the day the capsules open. Press it onto the surface of a wet, fine mix and do not cover it. Keep it moist and in good light, and it sprouts within a day or two.

Keep the soil wet through the first summer, since it never wants to dry out. Deer browse it, so cage young plants where deer are many. Thin taller trees that crowd it, since in the wild it is shaded out and needs openings to renew itself.

Plants are male or female, and bees carry pollen from the male catkins to the female ones, so plant three or more for seed. Its brittle twigs break off and root, and cuttings pushed into wet soil root as easily.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

Sources (9)