Encyclopedia of Herbs
EVOLUTION AND THE WILLOW
Willow flowers, those fuzzy, yellowish catkin, illustrate a stage in evolution.
They show that willow are evolving from being insect-pollinated to being wind-pollinated. Petals, which serve no purpose on a plant that doesn't need the services of pollinating creatures, interfere with breezes; they don't exist on a willow flower.
The male parts of the flowers, the stamens, are bunched together in a tight catkin, exposed to the wind. The female flowers also are grouped together in catkins, free from petals and exposed to the pollen-bearing wind. That the willow aren't fully free of insect help in pollination is attested to by the fact that the female flowers still produce nectar to attract insect.
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