Willow

Coyote Willow (Salix exigua Nuttall)
Goodding Willow (Salix gooddingii)
Ball Black Willow (Salix nigra Marsh)
Salicaceae (Willow Family)

Willows are deciduous shrubs or small trees that grow to almost 40-feet tall along water courses or standing water. Willow branches are highly flexible and were valued as construction materials for basketry, tools, and other uses. Willow also was used for fuel, medicine and ritual purposes among various American Indian groups.

The willow species growing in the study area have linear or lanceolate leaf blades; the flowers are catkins that are directed upward instead of drooping like many other trees with catkins. Salix exigua Nuttall is treated as a synonym to Salix interior Rowlee, and is a plant of the western states. Salix gooddingii Ball is a willow of the desert Southwest. It is named for a botanist with the former U.S. Soil Conservation Service, Leslie Goodding, whose name really was spelled that way. Salix nigra Marsh is an eastern willow, and the Lower Pecos region constitutes the western limits of its distribution. All three species grow in the region.

Archeological occurrence. Willow wood and willow bark are utilized in several medicinal and construction applications. These are vegetative plant parts that are difficult to identify unless the specimens are in excellent condition and have not been modified too much. Other parts, such as flowers (catkins) and bark were eaten by some groups, but these are also very difficult to detect in the archeological record. Regarding its use as fuel, willow wood charcoal and cottonwood charcoal are very difficult to distinguish. However, uncarbonized willow branches can be identified if they are fairly complete. For example, cottonwood has multiple bud scales and willow has a single bud scale, a good means of separating the young limbs of these two genera.

Perhaps because identification is difficult, not many artifacts from the Lower Pecos region have been attributed to willow. However, Andrews and Adovasio (1980:54-55) note that close-coiled baskets with whole and half-rod foundations utilized willow (Salix sp.) for the rods.

Food and beverage. Some parts of willows were occasionally used for food or drink. The Yuman Indians utilized Goodding's willow for drink, boiling or steeping the young shoots, leaves, and bark in water to make a tea. They also ate the catkins raw, and ate "the bark" after cooking it in hot ashes, which would include both the outer bark and the inner bark or cambium. The Cocopa collected honey dew from the leaves and branches (Castetter and Bell 1951:201, 218).

Basketry and construction. The use of willow for basketry and implements is widespread. The Cahuilla used willow withes as the foundation in coiled baskets, and to make large carrying and storage baskets. Both the Cahuilla and the Kawaiisu made bows from willow branches, but willow is not the best material for that application (Bean and Saubel 1972:135; Zigmond 1981:61). Arrows also were constructed from the straight thin stems of willow (Chesnut 1902). Larger limbs were also utilized to make cradle boards (Bean and Saubel 1972:135). Pima used willow for the framework for outdoor storage baskets (Curtin 1984:108). These outdoor storage baskets were very large, usually resting on roofs or under shade ramadas. The whole or split willow withe or limb was used as a foundation for coiled baskets by many groups, including the Omaha (Gilmore 1919:20), Havasupai (Weber and Seaman 1985:215), and Tewa (Robbins et al. 1916). The Gosiute used willow branches to construct fishing weirs, water jugs, and baskets (Chamberlain 1911:380).

Willow branches, which are long, straight, and flexible, were used in the construction of houses and sweat lodges. The bark was used to tie poles or other items together. The Kawaiisu used willow for poles in house and sweathouse construction (Zigmond 1981:61). The Pomo used the poles as framework in houses. The accompanying photographs show the use of willow in the construction of demonstration wikiups at Shumla School, Comstock, Texas.

Fuel. Speaking of the Yokia of Mendocino County, California, Chesnut (1902:331) stated "The wood is more highly esteemed for fuel than oak". Oak, of course, is denser and burns longer and hotter than willow, and is often listed as a preferred firewood. This is one of the more baffling statements found in an ethnobotany, but since willow/cottonwood charcoal is often encountered in hearths from archeological sites, willow obviously was used for fuel quite often. Could it be because acorns were relied on as food and the Yokia conserved and managed oak trees? Or could it be that the Yokia preferred willow in certain applications? Ethnographies often leave more questions than answers.

Medicine and ritual. Willows contain salicin, which is converted to salicylic acid when consumed and acts to reduce fever and swelling (Newsholme 1992). For this reason willow bark, leaves, and twigs were used for many medicinal applications. The Pima used a decoction of the leaves and bark to reduce fever (Curtin 1984). The Zuni used the infusion of the bark for sore throats and coughs (Camazine and Bye 1980:378). The Pomo used the bark for both laryngitis and sore throats (Goodrich and Lawson 1980:118). The Cahuilla ground the dried leaves and steeped them in water for several hours. They bathed the patient in the willow water, then administered it as a beverage (presumably a different batch of willow water; Bean and Saubel 1972:135).

Gilmore (1919:21-22) provides a description of the place of willow in the burial ceremonies of the Omaha. The fourth day after death, the burial day, the young men came to the lodge to accompany the funeral party to the grave. They slit the skin of their forearms and slipped willow stems under the skin. The twigs, covered with blood, remained in their arms while they sang songs of joy and their blood and tears testified to their sympathies for the bereaved.

References:

Andrews, Rhonda L. and James M. Adovasio
1980  Perishable Industries from Hinds Cave, Val Verde County, Texas. Ethnology Monographs 5. Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Bean, Lowell J. and Katherine S. Saubel
1972  Temalpakh: Cahuilla Indian Knowledge and Usage of Plants. Malki Museum Press, Morongo Indian Reservation, Banning, California.

Camazine, Scott and Robert A. Bye
1980  A Study of The Medical Ethnobotany of The Zuni Indians of New Mexico. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2:365-388

Castetter, Edward and Willis Bell
1951  Yuman Indian Agriculture. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Chamberlin, Ralph V.
1911  The Ethno-Botany of the Gosiute Indians of Utah. Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association 2(5):331-405.

Chesnut, Victor King
1902  Plants Used by the Indians of Mendocino County, California. Contributions from the U.S. National Herbarium 7(3):291-422.

Curtin Leonora Scott Muse
1984  By the Prophet of the Earth: Ethnobotany of the Pima. Reprint of book published by San Vicente Foundation [1949], University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona.

Gilmore, Melvin R.
1919  Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln. [1977 reprint of original, Thirty-third Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.]

Goodrich, Jennie and Claudia Lawson
1980   Kashaya Pomo Plants . American Indian Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles, California.

Newsholme, Christopher
1992  Willows: The Genus Salix. Timber Press. Portland, Oregon.

Robbins, Wilfred Wiliam, John Peabody Harrington, and Barbara Freire-Marreco
1916  Ethnobotany of the Tewa Indians. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 55, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Weber, Steven A. and P. David Seaman
1985  Havasupai Habitat: A.F. Whiting's Ethnography of a Traditional Indian Culture. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona.

Zigmond, Maurice L.
1981  Kawaiisu Ethnobotany. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, Utah.