Salix caprea

The flowers appear before the leaves, and the anthers are yellow.

Goat willow is dioecious, so male and female catkins grow on separate plants.

Info Flora gives the flowering period of goat willow in Switzerland as March to May.

In Switzerland goat willow grows in floodplain forests, woodland clearings and gravel pits, up to the subalpine and sometimes alpine belt.

The Bavarian LWG rates goat willow 4 for nectar and 4 for pollen on its 1 to 4 scale, where 4 is the best value.

The LAVES bee institute in Celle calls goat willow the first important pollen and nectar source that honey bees use at the start of the bee season.

Once goat willow flowers, honey bees can bring in considerable pollen and nectar in good weather, according to LAVES.

LAVES notes that by the start of goat willow flowering, honey bee colonies have reared their first large batch of young bees.

BWARS, which covers Britain, reports that females of the mining bee Andrena praecox have only been seen visiting sallow catkins (Salix species in general, not goat willow alone).

BWARS, which covers Britain, states that the mining bee Andrena clarkella forages almost exclusively from sallow blossom (Salix species in general) in early spring.

The Baden-Württemberg bee forage catalogue suggests choosing several willow species that flower in succession from the last snow into fruit tree blossom.