Sandbar willow (Salix interior) and black willow (Salix nigra) ARE THESE good for Aravah ? Thanks

Shalom, I have been looking into the matter. Since, your questions involves both Halacha and botanica, I have reached out to other Rabbis who deal more with agricultural-like questions. I am also awaiting an answer from an important Posek in the U.S., but I didn't want to keep you waiting. The conclusion of a few agricultural halachic experts is that willows which come from the "salix" family are considered Kosher for the use of Aravah as part of the "Arba minim". One of the first to explore the subject in depth was Rabbi Immanuel Löw z"l, who served as a Rabbi in Szeged, Hungry (January 20, 1854 in Szeged – July 19, 1944) who was also a botanist. He wrote a 4 volume work called Die Flora der Juden (“The Flora of the Jews”), on terminology of plants in Jewish sources. He had great influence on future scholars, particularly Yehuda Feliks, who considered him one of the greatest scholars of Jewish botany. Professor Feliks, was an eminent scholar in the study of material life in the Bible and in the sources of the Sages; was a professor of Talmud and Botany in Bar-Ilan University. An in depth article identifying the Arava was written by Professor Zohar Amar in Hebrew called ערבה: זיהוי מדעי ומסורת הלכתית which appeared in the periodical תשרי תשס"ח גליון מח א.המעיין: . His conclusions are acceptable upon "Machon Hatorah V'ha'aretz, which is one of the leading Torah institutes in Israel which deals with issues of agriculture. I suggest also seeing the very informative video in the attached link, by Dr. Ari Zivotofsky who also assisted me in preparing this answer. He starts to speak about the Arava at about minute 13. So, in short, according to the above opinions, (Salix interior) and black willow (Salix nigra) these are kosher for the use of Arava. All the best