Black Willow

Salix nigra (N.C. Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox)
Black willow is native to moist to wet soils of floodplains, stream/river banks, swamps, marshes, sloughs, and ponds in the U. S. from Maine to Minnesota south to Colorado, Texas, and Florida and in Canada from New Brunswick to Manitoba. It is the largest of North Carolina’s willow species and grows nearly everywhere in the state, save for the high peaks of the Mountain region.

Black Willow Plant Fact Sheet (USDA NRCS)
Black willow is adapted wherever ample soil moisture is found. Black willow grows best where the average annual rainfall is 51 inches, of which 20 inches falls during the growing season, April through August.

Black Willow (Virginia Tech Dendrology)
Learn to identify black willow by its leaves, flower, fruit, twig, bark and form.

Black Willow (Carolina Nature)
Common throughout North Carolina, black willow is a medium-sized tree of riversides and other wet habitats.