Pussy Willows

Pussy willow is the name given to many of the smaller species of the genus, Salix (willows and sallows), when their furry catkins (slim, cylindrical flower clusters) are young in early spring. These species include (among many others) the goat willow or sallow (Salix caprea), the grey willow or sallow (Salix cinerea), and the American pussy willow (Salix discolor). Before male catkins come into full flower, they are covered in fine, greyish fur, which led to their fancied likeness to tiny cats also known as pussycats or pussies.

Why not simply call them, cat willows? The term puss was used from the 1500s to designate a woman with the traits of a cat, namely, a gal with sweetness and or amiability to spare, and thus puss started as a cat-related term.

In the early 1600s, however, a curious double entendre in a song presented the word pussy for the first time as referring to both a cat and a woman’s vagina. Around 100 years thus separated the two.

In the early 1900s, the term pussy even referred to men in several novels and not always in a derogatory way. It usually meant someone mysterious or unknown.

For many years now, a cat has been also called a pussycat (Sylvester will always be my favourite), not a pussy, with the pussy becoming the meaning of life in many ways, to me at least.

What is the point of all this? you may wonder. The cat willow; I mean, the pussy willow’s catkin could be renamed, furry clitoris, especially that it comes in different colours, even pink, blue, and purple. The pussy willow remains an unusual name given all these so-called circumstances.

On this Woman’s Day,

I salute you, my pussy;

I’ll love you always.

I wonder if instead of the usual roses, we should offer the one we love, a bouquet of pussy willows, or to spare their lives, just mention them, explain their history, show pictures of their wonderful variety, and then contemplate the meaning of life.

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Dedicated to my first love.