SALICACEAE

WILLOW FAMILY

Shrub, tree, generally dioecious (rarely monoecious)
Stem: trunk < 40 m; wood soft; bark smooth, bitter; buds scaly
Leaves simple, alternate, deciduous; stipules generally deciduous, often large
Inflorescence: catkin, generally appearing before leaves; each flower subtended by disk or 1–2 nectary glands and 1 bract
Flower: perianth 0
Staminate flower: stamens 1–many
Pistillate flower: pistil 1, ovary superior, chamber 1, stigma lobes 2–4
Seeds many; hairs fine, white, cottony
Fruit: capsule; valves 2–4
Genera in family: 2 genera, 340 species: generally temp (except Australia, Malay Archipelago) moist places; many cultivated. Hybridization common; identification often difficult. Family description, key to genera by John O. Sawyer, Jr.

SALIX

WILLOW

George W. Argus

Shrub, tree, dioecious; bud scale 1, not sticky, margins generally fused (or free, overlapping)
Stem: twigs generally flexible and not glaucous
Leaf: blade linear to widely obovate, entire to toothed, generally ± hairy
Inflorescence: dense catkin emerging before, with, or after leaves, sessile or on a short leafy shoot; bract subtending each flower
Flower: perianth 0
Staminate flower: stamens 1–8
Pistillate flower: ovary stalked or sessile, style 1 or 0, stigmas 2, each sometimes 2-lobed; nectaries 1–several, generally rod-like, generally between inflorescence axis and flower
Fruit: valves 2
Species in genus: ± 400 species: ± worldwide, especially n temp, arctic
Etymology: (Latin: ancient name)
Reference: [Argus 1986 Syst Bot Monog 9:1–170; Dorn 1976 Canad J Bot 54:2769–2789]
Difficult, highly variable. Not all specimens will key easily; sprout shoots and other extreme forms are not included in keys, may require field comparison for identification. Studies of variation, hybridization needed.

Native

S. geyeriana Andersson

GEYER'S WILLOW

Shrub < 5 m
Stem: twigs yellowish to brownish, generally glaucous, tomentose or velvety, becoming glabrous, sometimes brittle at base
Leaves: stipules 0 or vestigial; petiole short; young leaves silky; mature blade 32–74 mm, lanceolate, elliptic, or oblanceolate, acuminate (base wedge-shaped), entire, flat, ± persistently white- or white-and-rusty-hairy, shiny above, glaucous below
Inflorescence appearing with or just before leaves, 6–20 mm, subspheric, sessile or on leafy shoots < 8 mm; flower bract tawny to brown
Staminate flower: stamens 2
Pistillate flower: ovary white- or white-and-rusty-hairy, style 0.1–0.4 mm, stalk 1–2.8 mm
Chromosomes: 2n=38
Ecology: Subalpine streams, meadows
Elevation: 1450–3600 m.
Bioregional distribution: s High Cascade Range, n High Sierra Nevada, s High Sierra Nevada (especially Kern Plateau), San Bernardino Mountains, Great Basin Floristic Province
Distribution outside California: to British Columbia, Montana, New Mexico
Flowering time: May–Jun
Synonyms: var. argentea (Bebb) C.K. Schneid
Like S. lemmonii Bebb; hybrids occur in Sierra and Lassen cos. S. drummondiana Hook. has lower leaf surface densely silky, midrib glabrous, margins slightly rolled under
Horticultural information: WET: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; STBL.