Salix nigra Marsh
Summary
Black Willow, or Salix nigra Marsh., is a rapid growing tree that reaches maturity within 50 to 70 years. The sapwood is white and the heartwood is light brown to pale reddish, or grayish brown. Black willow often has dark streaks and tiny pin knots.
Looking at the panels on the wall from left to right, board one is flat sawn and has sapwood and heartwood. Boards two, three, four, and five show different variations in heartwood along with pin knots. Board six shows a highly defective center and features a ray fleck that is very small.
History
Since the wood is not highly valued, Black Willow is used for boxes, caskets, and pallets.
Color & Texture
The sapwood is white and the heartwood is light brown to pale reddish, or grayish brown, often with darker streaks. Cottonwood or aspen is very similar to black willow, but black willow has a brown color.
Anatomical and Microscopy
Semi-ring-porous (very subtle change in pore size from earlywood to latewood sometimes overlooked as diffuse-porous); medium to large pores in no specific arrangement, moderately numerous to numerous; commonly in radial multiples of 2-3; narrow rays not visible-sometimes even with the aid of hand lens, spacing normal to close; parenchyma banded (marginal).
Wood Properties
- Workability
- Light-weight and rated towards the bottom in regards to machining properties
- Strength
- Weak
- Steam Bending
- Comparable to elm
- Drying
- Severe drying schedule
- Shrinkage
- Intermediate in terms of tangential and volumetric shrinkage but low in radial shrinkage.
- Decay
- No resistance to decay
Products
Black willow is used for caskets, crates, boxes, and pallets.