Fluff from Willows and other Trees

I’m sure others have thought about this. Why can’t we use pussy Willow fluff to make yarn? I’m sure it’s at least good for pillow stuffing.

I'm the old-fashioned idiot who marches into spring snowbanks and brings home tons of pussy willows for decorative purposes. These are our first spring flowers, the first sign of life, long before dandelions show up.

There's no fibre there, only tiny flowerettes attached to a bud on a woody stock. If dried before they flower,they will keep for a year, after which they look decidedly decrepit.

I haven't tried stuffing a pillow, though stuffing a sit-upon for campfire use may have possibilities. Hmm!

Maybe what I’m finding is something other than pussy willow. Lots of fluff landing on the ground. When I picked it up, some of it was stuck to a stick-like thing. This fell onto the road from a neighbors tree. I don’t know how to spin, but I grabbed a large handful and tried Tirol it into a yarn-like shape. It almost kinda worked. It also had some chunky things in it, I’m assuming seeds.

Definitely not pussy willows.

If you post a photo, somebody here can identify it for you.

I will try to get a pic tomorrow. I did some internet browsing and think maybe it’s poplar?

Cottonwood fluff, perhaps?

Bethany Brown wrote:Maybe what I’m finding is something other than pussy willow. Lots of fluff landing on the ground.

Some of our willows, which I think are Goat Willow (Salix caprea), have left fluff everywhere since flowering in the spring. It's still on the grass now, months later.

I have wondered myself about using the fiber as we have been doing some cob work for a pizza oven and the final coats want lots of short, fine fibers. It remains to be seen how durable the fibers are though as they are very soft.

Hm! I was thinking cottonwood fluff also. But perhaps this is from a willow that doesn't grow in my part of the world.

OK, I'm here to confuse the issue further!
The "Eastern Cottonwood" is in fact a willow.  https://8billiontrees.com/trees/eastern-cottonwood-tree/
Whereas Texas has cottonwoods and willows and they are supposedly different species: https://biodiversity.utexas.edu/news/entry/cottonwoods-and-willows

So Bethany is in the PNW (probably further south than I am though) so her cottonwoods are likely in the Poplar family (Populus deltoides is the Texas one)

But Douglas is in Canada on, I think, the eastern side of the mountains, which often demarcates species (but not always).

So I would suggest that more research is needed. Certainly there are many uses for tree "fluff" even if spinning isn't one of them. I'm sure that I've read of Indigenous people using cattail fluff for more than just fire-starting for example.

Sorry I still haven’t gotten around to getting a photo. Things have been busy and I have been tired. Some kind of cottonwood or something I guess. Apparently they have shorter fibers so would be harder to spin. I would imagine it would be difficult for me to get enough o do much with.

I had been thinking that this fluff seemed like a resource that no one was using. Turns out, it’s definitely being used.

I think that cottonwood is in the willow family, as the author suggests, but not the willow genus. Usually the genus is more telling than the family. Eastern cottonwood is Populus deltoides, within the Salicaceae (willow family) along with all the other willows, poplars, aspens, and cottonwoods.