Like all members of Salix, Bebb's Willow is a Keystone Species because it feeds hundreds of caterpillar species.  It also is a larval host to the Mourning Cloak and Viceroy butterflies, and it is valuable to songbirds and native bees.
 
     Deer, rabbit, elk and moose browse on the branches, and Bebb's Willow also has been ranked highly palatable to farm animals.
 
     Bebb's Willow grows naturally along swamps, lakes and streams and in open woods and forests.
 
     Bebb's typically grows as a multi-stemmed shrub, although it can grow as a single-trunk tree up to 25 feet tall.  Its new branches are reddish-brown.