What is willow good for, if anything?
Richard Jones: Cricket bats are traditionally made of willow. Salicin from the bark has medicinal uses, easing aches, pains and fever going back millennia.
Michael Dresdner: Willow is the wood of choice for the locking blocks and wedges used when applying horsehair to a violin bow. It also shows up in boxes, basket bottoms, and both as solid wood and decorative veneer on furniture.
