03-05-2025
Nature Trail: Pussy willows put on a great show of colour
Willows in Ireland comprise a group of about thirteen species of shrubs and trees. They can be difficult to identify as the distinct species sometimes breed with each other to produce hybrids and the hybrids can breed with other willows to give rise to offspring exhibiting three parentage lines.
Willows have separate sexes and to reproduce, both sexes produce flowers in the form of catkins; the male catkins are called pussy willows. Each male catkin started life as a bud enclosed within a single leaf-scale. The buds burst open early this month and the catkins emerged covered by numerous silky, silvery-grey hairs. The dense covering of silky hairs made the catkin soft and furry to the touch and in appearance it resembled a cat's paw hence the pussy reference.
As time passed the male sex organs, the stamens, emerged from the depths of the catkin bursting through the coating of silky hairs. As shown in the image, each stamen is shaped like a match with a straight white shaft and a swollen bright yellow top containing the pollen grains.
Lots of plants use insects to carry pollen from the male flowers to fertilise the female flowers. Instead of insects, willows use the wind as a pollinating agent and to get maximum benefit they flower just before any leaves emerge. When ripe, the male stamens shed their dust-like pollen, and the wind carries it away with the possibility that it will stick to a receptive female catkin somewhere downwind.
It is a very chancy way of reproducing so to ensure success copious quantities of pollen are produced in the hope that a few grains will prove successful. The pollen is so light and dust-like that we breath it in at this time of year. When the tiny grains alight on the membranes of our noses and sinuses some people suffer an allergic reaction to their presence that we call hay fever.
Female willow catkins are smaller, greener and spikey and are not at all as impressive as the pussy willows. The Goat Willow is the first of the willows to flower and has the largest, stoutest, and most attractive catkins. The more common and widespread Grey Willow, popularly known as Sally, follows close behind.
