Sao, sauce canario (Salix canariensis)

Deciduous tree, up to 10 m. Leaves simple, alternate and lanceolate, generally with uneven margins (crenate or slightly serrate) and up to 15 cm long by 3 cm wide, light green, but silvery and pubescent on the underside. Numerous flowers, whitish or creamy-white, grouped into catkins. This hygrophile (moisture-loving plant) is closely linked to damp ravine beds, wet cliffs and springs, in evergreen, thermophile woods and pine forests, as well as high montane scrub to above 2,000 m in the Canaries. In Madeira, however, it grows essentially in evergreen woodland. Native to Macaronesia, commonly found in Madeira, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro.