Invasiveness Assessment - Weeping willow (Salix x sepulcralis) in Victoria (Nox)

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Plant invasiveness is determined by evaluating a plant’s biological and ecological characteristics against criteria that encompass establishment requirements, growth rate and competitive ability, methods of reproduction, and dispersal mechanisms.

Each characteristic, or criterion, is assessed against a list of intensity ratings. Depending upon information found, a rating of Low, Medium Low, Medium High or High is assigned to that criterion. Where no data is available to answer a criterion, a rating of medium (M) is applied. A description of the invasiveness criteria and intensity ratings used in this process can be viewed here.

The following table provides information on the invasiveness of Weeping willow.

A more detailed description of the methodology of the Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method can be viewed below:

Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method (PDF - 630 KB)
Victorian Weed Risk Assessment (WRA) method (DOC - 1 MB)
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Common Name: Weeping willow
Scientific name: Salix x sepulcralis

Question	Comments	Rating	Confidence
Establishment
Germination requirements?	“The ‘fragility’…of willows varies greatly and this is the single most important attribute conferring invasibility…by vegetative means.” The most fragile taxa include: Salix fragilis, S. x rubens, S. x pendulina, S. alba, S. x sepulcralis, and S. matsudana ‘Torulosa. They take root where they lodge in water or on wet ground (Ladson et al, 1997) i.e. opportunistic species.	H	MH
Establishment requirements?	Willows are described as heliophyllic (intolerant of shade) (Haines, 2004) and most species …must not be overhung by larger plants or trees (Newsholme, 1992).	ML	MH
How much disturbance is required?	S. x sepulcralis establish predominantly vegetatively (Ladson et al, 1997) and as such tend to “invade riverbanks, lakesides, drainage channels, swaps, almost all wet places (Webb, Sykes & Garnock-Jones, 1988) that are, by their nature, disturbed ecosystems.	MH	MH
Growth/Competitive
Life form?	Semi-aquatic- All willows are described as growing on the banks of water courses or in moist locations. S. x sepulcralis grows along riverbanks and lakesides (Webb, Sykes & Garnock-Jones, 1988).	H	MH
Allelopathic properties?	Of the naturalised willows in Australia, allelopathic compounds have been demonstrated in S. rubra (Bokarev, Kefeli & Kapeljusnikova, 1966), S. babylonica (Koul et al, 1991), S. fragilis (Davison, 1965), S. viminalis (Bowen & Hoad, 1968), S. alba (Banzhaf et al, 1983) and S. purpurea (Gilliver, 1947).For other willow species, their “dense shade and mat-forming willow roots suppress and kill indigenous understorey” (Purtle et al, 2001b), suggesting that there might be an allelopathic basis for this lack of understorey beneath willow infestations, however no specific reference to these species was found.	M	L
Tolerates herb pressure?	No information.	M	L
Normal growth rate?	“Salix are fast growing trees or shrubs, rarely prostrate” (Spencer, 1997). Where growth rates are described, tree and shrub forms of Salix are recorded as vigorous or fast growing, e.g. S. alba (Spencer, 1997), S. glaucophylloides (Newsholme, 1992), S. nigra (Cremer, 1995), S. purpurea (Webb, Sykes & Garnock-Jones, 1988) and S. x rubens (Meikle).	H	MH
Stress tolerance to frost, drought, w/logg, sal. etc?	FIRE “If a tree is completely girdled by fire at ground level it may die without coppicing… however young trees tend to sprout from the buried portion of their stem” (Cremer, 1999), indicating some fire tolerance in tree and shrub willows in general. FROST All tree and shrub species (except S. humboldtiana) in this study are recorded as tolerating USDA hardiness zones of between 1 and 6 (average minimum temperatures between –46^oC and –17^oC) (Bailey & Bailey, 1976, Griffiths, 1992). S. humboldtiana is susceptible to frost (Newsholme, 1992). DROUGHT All willows are described as growing on the banks or in the riverbeds of water courses or in moist locations (Carr, 1996; Carr et. al, 1992; Cody, 1996; Davis, 1982; Howard, 1988; Ladson, et al, 1997; Maloney et al, 1999; Munz, 1963; Voss, 1972; Webb, Sykes & Garnock-Jones, 1988) suggesting a low drought tolerance; and only few species (S. cinerea and S. exigua) can also establish on drier soil (but are not necessarily drought tolerant), with S. purpurea alone tolerating extremely dry, sandy soils (Newsholme, 1992). WATERLOGGING Those species able to grow in riverbeds must have high tolerance of waterlogging (S. exigua, Cody, 1996; S. fragilis, Maloney et al, 1999; S. alba, S. x rubens, and S. viminalis; Webb, Sykes & Garnock-Jones, 1988) and also S. cinerea (Cremer, 1999). SALINITY S. alba is “the most tolerant of all willows to brackish water” (Zallar). S. cinerea “tolerates salt-laden air” (Newsholme, 1992), S. fragilis, S. matsudana & S. seringeana tolerate high levels of salinity (Crouch & Honeyman, 1986). S. nigra has moderately high tolerance of salt (Swift, 1997) and S. purpurea shows “considerable tolerance for salt water” (Newsholme, 1992). S. alba are highly tolerant of waterlogging, salinity and frost, have some tolerance of fire, but not of drought.	MH	MH
Reproduction
Reproductive system	S. x sepulcralis’ twigs are not fragile, mostly vegetative reproduction but seeds are also produced (Carr, 1996). Nowhere truly naturalised (Meikle, 1984). Capable of reproducing both vegetatively and by seed	H	MH
Number of propagules produced?	“A large crown would produce over 500 000 seeds (Cremer, 1999). Seeds numerous, very small, each with a tuft of long hairs (Tutin, 1993).	H	MH
Propagule longevity?	“Willow seed is very short-lived” with longer-lived species recorded at surviving 8-10 weeks (Cremer, 1999).	L	MH
Reproductive period?	Following reproductive maturity “flowering tends to be ample and to occur every year” (Cremer, 1999). S. cinerea “stands are mostly monoculture excluding 97% of sunlight and most other species” (Cremer, 1999). The oldest stem S. exigua in this study was 31 years (Ottenbreit & Staniforth, 1992). An old S. fragilis tree was observed to 130 years (Meikle, 1984).	H	MH
Time to reproductive maturity?	“Flowering and the production of viable seed may begin two to three years after germination, provided the plant is at least 1 m tall if it is a shrub willow, or 2 m tall if it is a tree willow…In some taxa (e.g. S. alba) flowering tends to begin at larger sizes” (Cremer, 1999), which is probably still within 5 years. For plants that have reproduced vegetatively, this may be reduced, as in S. nigra, observed flowering on cuttings produced from < 1 year old growth (Crouch & Honeyman, 1986).	ML	MH
Dispersal
Number of mechanisms?	Vegetative propagules and seed spread by water. “Seed is easily carried by wind” (Cremer, 1999).	H	MH
How far do they disperse?	In S. x sepulcralis, where vegetative reproduction predominates (ARMCANZ, 2001), S. x rubens provides evidence that “very few individuals observed long distances from existing mature trees and these were downstream of cities, towns and homesteads” (Shafroth et al, 1994).	MH	MH

*The weed risk assessment of this taxon includes S. sepulcralis var. chrysocoma.

S. cinerea, S. fragilis, S. x rubens & S. nigra are identified by Ladson et al as outstandingly invasive because of their biology and ecology, specifically their reproductive ability.

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