Willows were used for making dye, furniture, mats, baskets, drums, stirrups, tipi pegs and pins, fox and fish traps, hunting lodge poles, and meat-drying racks (Kindscher 1992). Willows were and still are used for baskets throughout their range. The Paiute, Ute, Shoshone, Hopi, Havasupai, Mandan, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and others use Salix lucida for basketweaving (James 1972, Mason 1988).
Kelly Kindscher(1992) wrote in Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie: "The Blackfeet made a tea from the fresh root of Salix species to treat internal hemorrhage, throat constrictions, swollen neck glands, and bloodshot or irritated eyes. The twigs were also gathered and preserved. Steeped in boiling water, they were made into a tea to cure fever or alleviate pain."
Salix species were used as chew sticks to clean teeth by many other Indian tribes, including the Choctaw, Delaware, and Cheyenne. The shining willow was favored by the Osage, Delaware, and Cherokee for this purpose (Elvin-Lewis 1979). The Kiowa made a tea of willow leaves, which they rubbed on the body to cure pneumonia and relieve rheumatic aches. They also chewed the bark to relieve toothache (Vestal and Shultes 1939). The Comanche burned the stems of the willow and used the ashes to treat sore eyes (Carlson and Jones 1939). To restore themselves both physically and mentally, the Dakota
drank a willow-bark tea (Andros 1883). The Ojibwe used shining willow bark externally to treat skin rashes.
Aspirin is the pharmaceutical equivalent of willow bark tea, which is an effective remedy for headache, fever or sore throat. More than 2,400 years ago, the Greeks learned to use extracts of several native willow species to treat pain, gout, and other illnesses. In more recent times, 1839, salicylic acid was isolated from wild plants and manufactured synthetically. Early salicylic acid-based products had unpleasant side effects. Sixty years later, the Bayer Company developed a derivative of salicylic acid, called it aspirin, and the rest is history.
Tea made from willow leaves will cure laryngitis. Willow reduces inflammation of joints and membranes (Moore 1979). When used as an analgesic, willow treats urethra and bladder irritation, infected wounds, and eczema. Willow is used as an over-all treatment of many diseases, including hay fever, diarrhea, prostatitis, satyriasis, and ovarian pain. A poultice is made for treating gangrene and skin ulcers.
Young willow shoots can be stripped of their bark and eaten. The young leaves may be eaten in case of emergency. The inner bark can be eaten raw, prepared like spaghetti, or made into flour.
Riparian: Riparian ecosystem functions provided by willows include the following: 1) Riparian vegetation traps sediments and nutrients from surface runoff and prevents them from entering the aquatic system; 2) the dense matrix of roots in the riparian zone can serve as an effective filter of shallow groundwater; 3) water quality is improved through filtration and the trapping of sediment, nutrients (particularly nitrogen dissolved in groundwater), and pollutants; and 4) riparian areas act as a sponge by absorbing floodwaters. The water is then slowly released over a period of time, which minimizes flood damage and sustains higher base flows during late summer.
Wildlife: Structurally complex riparian vegetation communities provide many different habitats and support a diverse array of animal species. The layers of vegetation provide multiple niches for many species of insects and wildlife. Canopies of plants growing on streambank provide shade, cooling stream water, while roots stabilize and create overhanging banks, providing habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms.
Rabbits and many ungulates (including deer, moose, and elk) browse on willow twigs, foliage, and bark (Martin 1951). Beaver love willow branches. Several species of birds eat willow buds and young twigs. Riparian forests support a high diversity of breeding birds (Miller 1951). The percentage of breeding individuals, which are migratory, is very high in the cottonwood-willow habitat. Moister conditions in the cottonwood-willow forest may promote lush plant growth, higher invertebrate populations and, therefore, more available food for flycatchers, warblers, and other migratory, insectivorous birds. Riparian areas support up to 10.6 times the density of migrant birds per hectare as adjacent non-riparian areas (Stevens et al. 1977). Most of these migratory birds belong to the foliage insect (47%) or air insect (34%) foraging guilds.
