All the world's best cricket bats are made from this willow, mostly grown in south-east England, though it could be grown in any sheltered part of north-west Europe with wet, fertile soils. Sometimes called Blue Willow for its glaucous foliage.
A cultivated variety, found almost anywhere in north-west Europe, but mostly grown commercially in south-east England.
One of many cultivars of White Willow, most of which are ornamental. This productive variety is always a female clone, reproduced vegetatively by cuttings. First cultivated in the late eighteenth century.
Usually encountered as unmissable stands of clean, high-pruned stems planted in ordered patterns. Similar to true White Willow but with key differences: rarely over 25m (usually harvested before 20 years), with a pyramidal crown, stiff erect branches and a branch-free lower trunk. Leaves become entirely glabrous by late summer, distinctly blue-grey beneath. It bears green spring catkins before shedding fluffy seeds.
Growing it for cricket-bat timber demands excellence, as any quality compromise leaves only a firewood market. Trees must grow steadily without stress, ideally on banks near running water with damp, fertile, non-waterlogged soils (often shown by nettles and comfrey), avoiding cold, windswept ground. A 3m 'set' is driven into a drilled hole, spaced 10x10m, guarded against browsing, kept branch-free to 2m, and harvested at about 50cm diameter in 15-20 years.
The wide spacing of the trees allows wildlife-sensitive management to be carried out hand-in-hand with productive timber growth, for example establishing wildflower meadows.
Grey Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) can strip bark from young trees. Watermark disease caused by the bacterium Brenneria salicis causes leaves to wilt and dieback. Also leaf rusts.
Although a diffuse-porous hardwood, its timber behaves like a softwood: stiff with excellent impact resistance, ideal for quality cricket bats. Felled stems are crosscut and split into segments, like an orange, to make 'clefts', roughly sawn to shape, dried, then graded as 'blanks' before manufacture.
