# Missouri River Willow (Salix eriocephala)

> A fast native willow of stream banks and wet meadows whose silky catkins open among the first flowers of spring, feeding emerging bees.

Also called heartleaf willow, Missouri willow, stiff willow, Salix rigida, Salix missouriensis. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/missouri-river-willow/

![Missouri River willow (Salix eriocephala) stem with toothed leaves and large leafy stipules](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/missouri-river-willow-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Gilles Ayotte, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASalix_eriocephala_15-p.bot-salix.rigida-3.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 6 to 20 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 3 to 9
- Grows wild in: Stream banks, floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats, old fields and edges
- Native range: 34 states and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC), north to [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), south to [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL) and west to [Colorado](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CO) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Colorado](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CO), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Kansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KS), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [Nebraska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NE), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Oklahoma](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC))
- Sun: Full
- Soil moisture: Wet, Average
- Growth rate: Fast
- Flowers: April to June
- Fruit: Capsules, May to July
- First crop: 2 to 10 years (first flowers)
- Mature spread: 15 ft
- Traits: Tolerates wet soil, Honey tree, Wildlife value
- Sold as: Saplings

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

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their height and age are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Missouri River willow is a narrow shrub or small tree of stream banks, river shores and wet meadows across the East and the northern Plains. Its thick, toothed leaves are often rounded or heart-shaped at the base, which gives it its other name, heartleaf willow. It is a host of the mourning cloak, one of the first butterflies on the wing in spring. Mass it at a pond edge, along a streambank or in a wet, sunny swale, where it can spread into a thicket.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Missouri River willow grows fast, nearly three feet a year in our growth estimator. It makes a narrow shrub or small tree of 6 to 20 feet, on several stems from a compact base, with dark gray, scaly bark.

Silky catkins open from April into June, the males just before the leaves and the females as they unfold. It is one of the earliest willows to bloom, and emerging bees feed on it. The beaked capsules split from May into July to release cottony seed. The leaves are glossy above and waxy white beneath, with large, leafy stipules at their stalks.

It grows wild from Newfoundland and Quebec west to Manitoba and the Dakotas, and south to Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia and northern Florida. Its home is gravelly or rocky stream banks, river shores, floodplains, marshes and wet meadows. Florida lists it as endangered.

## How to grow Missouri River Willow

Missouri River willow wants full sun, since it takes little shade. Give it ground that stays moist or wet, such as a stream bank, a pond edge or a low meadow, and it takes sandy or gravelly soil. It stands flooding well, but it takes little drought. 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. Its seed lives only a few days, so sow it fresh, the day the capsules split. Scatter it on wet, bare soil in sun without covering it, and keep the bed moist. Stem cuttings root about as easily as those of any plant.

Water weekly through the first summer unless the ground stays wet. Keep taller trees from shading it, since it fades without sun.

Plants are male or female, and bees carry pollen from the male catkins to the female ones. Small insects often raise galls on the leaves. It is short-lived and prone to insect, disease and wind damage.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 7: Salix eriocephala](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242417198)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Salix eriocephala](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SAER)
- [Minnesota Wildflowers: Salix eriocephala, Missouri River willow](https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/shrub/missouri-river-willow)
- [Go Botany, Native Plant Trust: Salix eriocephala](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/salix/eriocephala/)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Salix chapter (Zasada, Douglas and Buechler)](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Salix.pdf)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Salix eriocephala](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/SAER)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Salix eriocephala, Heartleaf Willow](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.129982/Salix_eriocephala)
- [Florida Natural Areas Inventory: Element Tracking Summary](https://www.fnai.org/PDFs/tracking/element_tracking_summary_current.pdf)
- [Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife: Rare and Uncommon Plants of Delaware (McAvoy 2024)](https://documents.dnrec.delaware.gov/fw/conservation/Rare-and-Uncommon-Plants-of-Delaware.pdf)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [How fast every tree and shrub we grow gets tall: growth rate, A to Z](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/growth-rates/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md)

## Related

- Other willows (Salix) we grow: [Bebb's Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bebb-willow/index.html.md), [Carolina Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/carolina-willow/index.html.md), [Florida Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/florida-willow/index.html.md), [Peachleaf Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/peachleaf-willow/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Missouri River Willow, add ?species=missouri-river-willow with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 3, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=missouri-river-willow&zone=3&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Missouri River Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=missouri-river-willow): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Missouri River Willow as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=missouri-river-willow (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Missouri River Willow is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=missouri-river-willow (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Missouri River Willow needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 5 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=missouri-river-willow:5
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Missouri River Willow where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=missouri-river-willow&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Missouri River Willow goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=missouri-river-willow&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Missouri River Willow flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=missouri-river-willow