Unique shade roof ... willow branches?

Hi ... in the most recent "Inside Out" magazine, there is a picture of a deck where they have used what appears to be 30-40mm branches as a kind of "thatching" to provide a shade roof.

The branches are fixed (in some way) to a conventional post, beam and batten roof structure. The banches themselves are not straight and true (eg. like bamboo poles), but have a more "tortured" look. Lengths of each branch appears at least 2m long.

Any ideas what type of material is been used? ...or what may be a suitable material? I saw some pre-fab panels made of willow in Bunnings and was wondering how this would go? (albeit they were woven and only 8mm dia ... but the idea that 30-40mm willow might be suitable?).

Thanks.

Perhaps a brushwood?

Like this
http://www.brushwood.com.au/main.asp

I'm not sure how durable willow is.

I have seen brushwood fences last over ten years and still looking good…

I think it’s worth contacting a company who creates the panels because the quality of brushwood panels at Bunnings dont seem all that great. Well my experience is the panel wiring is pretty crap.

Plus if you look on that website they talk about less flamable materials, something worth investigating/considering.