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. eastwoodiae A. Heller

SIERRA WILLOW

Shrub < 4 m
Stem: twigs yellowish or red-brown to violet, glaucous or not, shaggy-hairy, becoming glabrous
Leaves: stipules leaf-like, early deciduous; petiole generally with glands, glabrous or long-hairy; young leaves hairy; mature blade 27–99 mm, lanceolate to widely elliptic or oblanceolate, acute (base rounded to acute), entire to finely short-slender-serrate, hairy, becoming glabrous, not glaucous below
Inflorescence appearing with leaves, 16–45 mm, on leafy shoots 2–20 mm; margin of shoot leaves finely short-slender-serrate or gland-dotted; flower bract brown or tawny
Staminate flower: stamens 2
Pistillate flower: ovary silky, style 0.6–1.5 mm, stalk 0.2–1.6 mm
Chromosomes: 2n=76
Ecology: Alpine and subalpine meadows, streams, talus
Elevation: 1600–3800 m.
Bioregional distribution: Klamath Ranges, High Cascade Range, High Sierra Nevada, White and Inyo Mountains
Distribution outside California: to Oregon, Montana, Wyoming
Flowering time: Jun–Jul
Synonyms: S. commutata Bebb (including var. denudata Bebb) misapplied
Horticultural information: WET: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 18.