Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus Salix, are around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level, resulting in a stool. New growth emerges, and after a number of years, the coppiced tree is harvested, and the cycle begins anew. Pollarding is a similar process carried out at a higher level on the tree in order to prevent grazing animals from eating new shoots. Daisugi, is a similar Japanese technique.
Pollarding is a pruning system involving the removal of the upper branches of a tree, which promotes the growth of a dense head of foliage and branches. In ancient Rome, Propertius mentioned pollarding during the 1st century BCE. The practice occurred commonly in Europe since medieval times, and takes place today in urban areas worldwide, primarily to maintain trees at a determined height or to place new shoots out of the reach of grazing animals.
Salix alba, the white willow, is a species of willow native to Europe and western and central Asia. The name derives from the white tone to the undersides of the leaves.
Salix viminalis, the basket willow, common osier or osier, is a species of willow native to Europe, Western Asia, and the Himalayas.
The Cotswold Water Park is the United Kingdom's largest marl lake system, straddling the Wiltshire–Gloucestershire border, northwest of Cricklade and south of Cirencester. There are 180 lakes, spread over 42 square miles (110 km2).
Stoke St Gregory is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, about 7 miles (11 km) east of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village is on a low ridge of land between the River Tone to the north and West Sedgemoor to the south. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 942.
Cornus sericea, the red osier or red-osier dogwood, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cornaceae, native to much of North America. It has sometimes been considered a synonym of the Asian species Cornus alba. Other names include red brush, red willow, redstem dogwood, redtwig dogwood, red-rood, American dogwood, creek dogwood, and western dogwood.
Basket weaving is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets may be known as basket makers and basket weavers. Basket weaving is also a rural craft.
Chiswick Eyot is a 3.266-acre (1.3 ha) narrow, uninhabited ait of the Thames. It is a tree- and reed-covered rise on the Tideway by Chiswick, in London, England and is overlooked by Chiswick Mall and by some of the Barnes riverside on the far bank. It is the most downstream island purely in the Thames.
In tableware the Osier pattern is a moulded basket-weave pattern in delicate relief used round the borders of porcelain plates and other pieces of flatware. It originated in Germany in the 1730s on Meissen porcelain, and was later often imitated by other producers. It is presumed to have been devised by Johann Joachim Kaendler, the celebrated head modeller at Meissen. The name comes from Salix viminalis, or the common osier, a Eurasian species of willow, whose thin, flexible, shoots or withies were and are much used for various types of wickerwork, usually encouraged by coppicing the plants.
Garrick's Ait, previously known as Shank's Eyot, is an ait in the River Thames in England on the reach above Molesey Lock, the nearest land being Moulsey Hurst (park) on the Surrey bank and the opposite bank being a much narrower riverside park of Hampton. It is the only island in the United Kingdom named after an actor.
Rose Isle is an island in the River Thames in England just downstream of Kennington Railway Bridge on the reach above Sandford Lock, near Kennington, Oxfordshire.
Salix triandra, with the common names almond willow, almond-leaved willow or black maul willow, is a species of willow native to Europe and Western and Central Asia. It is found from south-eastern England east to Lake Baikal, and south to Spain and the Mediterranean east to the Caucasus, and the Alborz Mountains. It usually grows in riparian habitats, on river and stream banks, and in wetlands.
Lot's Ait is a 1.724-acre (0.7 ha) ait in the Thames. It is on the Tideway near Brentford, in the London Borough of Hounslow, England.
Isleworth Ait, also known as Isleworth Eyot, is a between 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) and 9.370-acre (3.792 ha) teardrop-shaped island in the River Thames in England. The long ait is on the Tideway facing Old Isleworth and the towpath alongside the Royal Mid-Surrey Golf Club. These places are in the London Boroughs of Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames. The island faces Heron's Place and a number of commercial buildings.
Pavenham Osier Beds is a 1.3 hectare nature reserve south of Pavenham, on the banks of the River Great Ouse, in Bedfordshire. It is managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.
Putcher fishing is a type of fishing which employs multiple putcher baskets, set in a fixed wooden frame, against the tide in a river estuary, notably on the River Severn, in England and South East Wales. Putchers are placed in rows, standing four or five high, in a wooden "rank" set out against the incoming and/or outgoing tides.
Calamus rotang, also known as common rattan, is a plant species native to India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Burma). It is one of the scandent (climbing) rattan palms used to make Malacca cane furniture, baskets, walking-sticks, umbrellas, tables and general wickerwork, and is found in Southwest Asia. The basal section of the plant grows vertically for 10 metres or so, after which the slender, tough stem of a few centimetres in diameter, grows horizontally for 200 metres or more. It is extremely flexible and uniform in thickness, and frequently has sheaths and petioles armed with backward-facing spines which enable it to scramble over other plants. It has pinnate, alternate leaves, 60–80 cm long, armed with two rows of spines on the upper face.
Draper's Osier Bed Stream is a small stream in southern England, in the county of Berkshire. It is formed at a weir on a section of the River Kennet running alongside the Kennet and Avon Canal, and travels east for a while, before merging with the Kennet upstream of the head of the Holy Brook stream.
