Adress
Cités-Jardins Le Logis et Floréal
Watermael-Boitsfort
GPS coordinates :
50.8095
, 4.4173
Scientific inventory
Identity
Category :
Arbre remarquable
Latin name :
Salix alba
French name :
Saule blanc
Dutch name :
Gewone wilg
English name :
White willow
Family :
Salicaceae
Height :
10 m
Targeted height :
This species can grow up to 25 m, sometimes 30 m
Diameter of the crown :
15 m
Trunk circumference :
450 cm
Expected circumference :
500 cm
Expected longevity :
Can live for 150 years
Origin / Indigenous
Europe, western and northern Asia, northern Africa
Favorite soil :
Prefers humid, light and fresh soils
Favorite climate
Temperate
Usefulness and services of the tree :
Enhances the landscape :
+
Enhances the biodiversity :
+++
Provide oxygen :
Purify the air :
Filter the water :
-
Prevents flooding :
Stores carbon :
Softens the climate :
Limits soil erosion :
+
Does good, heals :
+++
Belgian Federal State Collection on permanent loan to the [Meise Botanical Garden](<https://www.plantentuinmeise.be/en/home/>). Hempel, Die Bäume und Sträucher dese Waldes, pl. 27, 1889
Features and characters of the individual
This tree has grown up in the cités-jardins le Logis et Floréal neighbourhood in Watermael-Boitsfort. In the 1920s, urban planner Van der Swaelmen designed these housing estates as a kind of huge inhabited park. He designed and created this urban-nature landscape. Within this decor, each tree had a particular place. This white willow was no doubt chosen for its silvery, reflective foliage and the yellow colour of its springtime bloom. It was huge but hollow. Rather than cut it down, the trunk was maintained in the hope that it would reform as willow again.
