Dwarf Arctic Willow

Salix purpurea, purple osier willow, is a dense multi-stemmed shrub from Europe, western Asia and North Africa, reaching eight to ten feet in both directions. Slender purple-tinged stems carry narrow blue-green leaves in opposite or near-opposite pairs, which is unusual in a willow, and small catkins open on bare wood in early spring.

The long flexible one-year stems are the traditional basketry willow, and cutting the whole plant to the ground every year or two is how you get them — coppicing produces straight vigorous rods and keeps the stem colour bright. It roots so readily from cut wood that living willow fences and structures are built from fresh rods pushed straight into damp ground.