TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
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©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
For up-to-date information about California vascular plants, visit the Jepson eFlora. |
AND IS MAINTAINED FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES ONLY |
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 12 nectary glands and 1 bract
Flower: perianth 0
Staminate flower: stamens 1many
Pistillate flower: pistil 1, ovary superior, chamber 1, stigma lobes 24
Seeds many; hairs fine, white, cottony
Fruit: capsule; valves 24
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.
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 18
Pistillate flower: ovary stalked or sessile, style 1 or 0, stigmas 2, each sometimes 2-lobed; nectaries 1several, 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 9:1170; Dorn 1976 Canad J Bot 54:27692789]
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 |
Shrub < 4 m
Stem: twigs yellowish to brownish, generally thinly glaucous, generally glabrous, sometimes brittle at base
Leaves: stipules leaf-like (vestigial on young leaves); young leaves silky; mature blade 44110 mm, oblong-lanceolate to elliptic, acuminate (base acute), entire or finely serrate, white- or white-and-rusty-hairy, becoming glabrous, glaucous below
Inflorescence appearing with or just before leaves, 1350 mm, sessile or on leafy shoots < 6 mm (shoot leaves entire); flower bract tawny to dark brown
Staminate flower: stamens 2
Pistillate flower: ovary silky, style 0.30.8 mm, stalk 1.22.1 mm
Chromosomes: 2n=76
Ecology: Streams, wet meadows, burns in subalpine pine forests
Elevation: 14003500 m.
Bioregional distribution: e Klamath Ranges, High Cascade Range, High Sierra Nevada, San Bernardino Mountains, Modoc Plateau, White and Inyo Mountains
Distribution outside California: to British Columbia, Idaho, Nevada
Flowering time: MayJun
See S. geyeriana Andersson
Horticultural information: WET or IRR, SUN: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; STBL.