Salix miyabeana

miyabeana = after Dr. Miyabe Kingo, a Japanese botanist

Japanese or Miyabe Willow

The most vigorous willow in our collection, S. miyabeana will grow to 25ft in three years. Trees in the Montreal Botanical Garden are about 50ft tall! Sometimes listed as a large shrub, this is most definitely a tree for us! It is a striking, graceful and imposing tree from Northern Japan. The leaves are a typical willow shape and grow 7in long by ~1in wide. We have both male and female plants in the nursery; their catkins appear before the leaves develop. This species produces the longest, straightest rods for building living structures and baskets. See Making A Fedge for examples of Salix miyabeana used to make fedges. Hardy to at least Zone 4. Dried rod color: mottled light brown to tan

USES: Because of its vigor and pest resistance, this species has been used to develop hybrid willows for bio-fuel projects. As well as grow-your-own firewood, it is also useful for large living structures and coarse basketry. Can be used in shelter belts to reduce wind or as a screen to hide undesirable objects/neighbors.

above: Miyabeana has long female catkins that twist snake-like as they mature. The reddish-brown twigs provide a rich color in winter.

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I'm guessing this tree is 4-5 years old.

at left: two photos showing the long leaves and green twigs

above and below: Male catkins in various stages of development

Rods ready for shipping

'Winter Green'

and miyabeana

Soaked

so they root better.

Maturing female catkins

Imagine you're a bee: doesn't this look like a great place to land and feast. The queen would be very happy!

A branch on a tree in the Montreal Botanic Garden covered in catkins.

S. miyabeana selections:

We have obtained several selections (clones) of this highly variable species that were selected at the University of Toronto. These were obtained by SUNY Syracuse for biomass breeding  and then by Cornell University for their breeding program. These selections are all great for producing long, mostly unbranched rods after coppicing and are great for living structures as well as biofuel production. The differences between these and the species are not significantly different.

The clones are:

S. miyabeana SX61 female

for more information click here:

https://blogs.cornell.edu/willow/files/2014/10/SX61-new-08_03_2010-1t0lb6k.pdf

S. miyabeana SX64 male

https://blogs.cornell.edu/willow/files/2014/10/SX64-new-2010_08_03-2hmvrpt.pdfc

S. miyabeana SX67 male

for more information click here:

https://blogs.cornell.edu/willow/files/2014/10/SX67-new-2010_08_03-16088nu.pdf

A snow-break near I87 in New York State. It is about 1000ft long and perhaps 15ft tall. It is made up of two willows; but one willow, Salix miyabeana is dominating the other variety, so that was a waste of material. The big willow is probably one of the selections at right! Obviously deer don't touch it except for an occasional nibble, otherwise the State would never have spent this kind of money!

If you need a dense fence or screen, this is the willow to choose!

The great blue heron in the foreground was very nice to stay there while I took this photo!

Below is a neat hedge at the Montreal Botanic garden using SX64. This will need to be pruned 2-3 times during the summer.

SX61 female

SX64 male

SX67 male

WillowWorld

of Michael Dodge