willow

The willow tree is deciduous with simple leaves and small erect catkins. Willows are found throughout the world, except Australasia.

Any of a group of trees or shrubs containing over 350 species, found mostly in the northern hemisphere, flourishing in damp places. The leaves are often lance-shaped, and the male and female catkins are borne on separate trees. (Genus Salix, family Salicaceae.)

North American species include the black willow (S. nigra) and Pacific willow (S. lasiandra). The weeping willow (S. babylonica) is a native of China, cultivated worldwide.

Willow

Town in south-central Alaska; population (1990) 300. It is situated at the southwest base of the Talkeetna Mountains, to the east of the Susitna River, and 64 km/40 mi north-northwest of Anchorage. Chosen as the site of a new, more central state capital in 1976, this small road and railway settlement was to be completely rebuilt and expanded, but funding for the project was rejected in a 1982 referendum, and the capital remains at Juneau.