Willow, Rochester Bestiary, c.1230
Willows are shade tolerant and short lived. Weeping Willows are native to China and East Asia. Willow wood has a variety of uses including basket making, wicker furniture, boxes, brooms, and perhaps most famously, cricket bats.
Willow bark has medicinal properties, and has been used throughout history to treat pain, in particular, low back pain, osteoarthritis, headache, and some inflammatory conditions. The active medicinal ingredient in the willow bark is called "salicin", and is sometimes used as an alternative to asprin.
In folklore, willow branches were believed to ward off evil spirits, and were fastened over doorways to keep the occupants safe. Another piece of folklore said that if you knock your knuckles on a willow tree, this will banish bad luck. This is the origin of the saying "touch wood". Willow wood is often used to make water divining rods, and wands.
Willows are also mentioned in the bible; Psalm 137 begins: "By the rivers of Babylon—there we sat down, and there we wept when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our harps."
In this verse the willow symbolises loss, however in the verse from Ezekiel 17 below, the willow represents revival: "Then he took a seedling from the land, placed it in fertile soil; a plant by abundant waters, he set it like a willow twig."
Transcription
Translation
vigoris. Cuius natura est. ut etiam arefactum si
abluatur; virescat. Deinde excisum atque in
humo fixum; radicibus sese ipsum demergat.
Quercum et Ilicem ysidorus dicit diversas ar-
bores. et quercum ferre glandes gallas; et ilicem
ferre glandes. Set nos usum sequentes; eas pro
eisdem accipimus. discentes quod multi dicunt quod
galle et glandes in eadem arbore crescunt. Sed
galle sunt poma; glandes alii fructus eiusdem
arboris. Ilex ut dicit ysidorus dicitur ab electo. quia
illius fructum primum homines sibi in victum elege-
runt. Unde et poeta. Mortales primi ructabuant
gutture glandem. Quercus sive querinum dicitur
quod sub ea soliti erant dii gentium querentibus res-
legitur de quercu in ambre. sub qua habitav
abraham. que fertur usque ad constantini re-
gis imperium per multa secula perdurasse. Fructus
huius; galla dicitur. sicut dicit ysidorus. Ex quibus
unus agrestis. parva forma. sed pirmo corpore atque
nodoso. que medicaminibus et incaustis adhi-
betur. Altera levis ac lenis. et nimium perforata.
Lucernarum tantum usibus necessaria. Glandes
modo sunt cibus porcorum. et galle medicina
hominum. Glandes quoque in medicinam sumuntur
et sunt frigide et sicce. et ideo difficiles ad dige-
rendum. et constipant et urinam provocant.
et corporis sunt nutritive. quasi quedam grana
tarde de stomaco descendunt. propter fumum
spissum; dolorem capiti faciunt. Superficies earum
multum est. stiptica. Valent autem ad multas
infirmitates mulierum. Valent et ad sangui-
nis fluxum. Galla quoque est frigida et sicca. Alia
nondum matura et miper forata; pusilla est. alia
fluxum sanguinis valet galla. et mulierum
multas infirmitates curat. Pulverizata et in
naribus insufflata; sanguinem inde fluentem sistit;
Terebintus est. arbor brevis; ut quidam dicunt.
Hec arbor generat resinam omnium refinarum
prestantiorem. Afferunt autem ex arabia. parthia.
Said willow; that it leaps quickly, that is, it grows, a tough tree, apt to be conquered by vines. Of whose seed they say this is nature, as if one had drawn it into a cup; be deprived of children. set and makes women barren. It is soft, material and blank suitable for sculpture. And the wine of the willow is said to have much of this vigor. The nature of which is that even if it is washed it is dried; grow green Then it was cut down and fixed in the ground; he drowns himself in the roots. Ysidorus says that the oak and the holly are different trees, and that the oak bears galls. and at once to bear the bullets. Let us follow the custom; we take them for the same, learning that many say that galls and bullets grow on the same tree. But there are apples; acorns, other fruits of the same tree.