Taxonomy here is unsettled
and deeply furrowed along the veins
has long been a tree of distinction in the American landscape
so treat the plant as evergreen in the warm South and semi-evergreen where winters bite
Site the shrub where the late-winter perfume will be caught daily
Salix koriyanagi ‘Rubykins’ Vilmorin Taxonomy here is unsettledThe willows gave the world its first painkiller. Willow bark, steeped by Greek and Native American healers alike for fever and ache, carries salicin, the compound nineteenth century chemists refined into salicylic acid and, in time, aspirin, which still wears the genus name buried in the chemistry. This particular willow comes by a quieter trade. Salix koriyanagi is the Korean basket willow, the name meaning just that, long grown across Korea, Japan,