Thanks for your feedback Thumps. You are right, willow is considered a weed here now in many regions. It's so water hungry and self propagates easily.
I am wary of feeding too much. I have one rabbit that gets sleepy after eating fresh willow leaves and the green bark so I limit what I give him. The other 3 cope well with it fresh. All seem to enjoy and do well with it dry. A friend told me last week that the salicin levels in weeping willow are very much higher then they are in white willow. I will ask her specifically what she had read. I was surprised because I thought it was white willow bark that aspirin was first derived from. The older, aged bark??
I think I know this country test you speak of. I think I may have read it on here! Is it if you chew some and it saps the moisture from the mouth, it contains salicin? lol It reminds me of when I asked my father (a farmer) if he could tell me if the buns hay I had was mouldy. He popped in in his mouth and chewed it. :shock: Turns out it was just some rain damage on the hay
I will try get a good picture of the tree to post at some point.
:wave: Wow I think you & your friend should be telling US about willow!
Yes, aspirin was first derived from white willow bark. White willow is native to Europe.
Weeping willow is a cross between a Chinese Willow & White Willow but I don't know when it was done. By that time the native species had been used for their various purposes for centuries & were well established for "cropping" in large numbers.
Yes, you're right about the chewing test for salicin. :thumb:
I wouldn't use the old bark for bunnies, just the young twigs. The highest concentrations of salicin are in the bark & also sufficiently high concentrations of tannins to tan leather. Can't remember if it's Moroccan leather or Russian leather.
I'm fascinated that they knew that the leaves would relieve fever, even before Hippocrates (BC)