WILLOW TREES AND ASPIRIN

CRACK WILLOWS ALONG SOUTH NINTH STREET IN BAYFIELD

Thursday, 9:00 AM,  39 degrees F, wind SW, calm to light,  The sky is overcast and the humidity is 84%.  The barometer is rising rapidly, now at 30.08".  Tomorrow should be a nicer day.
   Rain, strong winds and more rain have stripped many of the trees of their leaves, but willow leaves have mostly hung on, and many trees remain quite colorful.  The willows, in the willow family, the Salicaceae, are a confusing lot, botanically.  The trees pictured in their fall coloration are likely crack willows, S. fragilis, although that species can be easily confused with black willow, S. nigra.  These are large, weak-wooded trees with large trunks and branches that bend and break off and sprout again, forming large "islands" of willow trees.
   The willows historically have had many uses; the young branches for weaving baskets and fences, and the leaves and inner bark yield salicilates, the basic ingredient in aspirin (which was originally developed from willow bark), and willows have long been important in American Indian, Asian,  European and other folk medicine treatments for arthritic complaints, headache, and fever.
   People allergic to aspirin should not use willow bark extracts. Children under the age of sixteen should not use willow extract nor aspirin, due to the possibility of contracting Reyes syndrome, a rare but dangerous complication of a high fever that is exacerbated by salicilates.
   Willow wood burns well when dry, but yields little heat.