Salix candida : Hoary Willow

Taxonomy

Scientific Name:

Kingdom: Plantae

Division:

Class: Dicoteldonae (two seed-leaves)

Family: Salicaceae (Willow Family)

Genera: Salix (Willows) (Classic Latin name for willow)

Species: candida

English Name(s):

Hoary Willow,

First Nation Names:

K'aii'



Description

Structure:

  • Upright shrub, to 1m high.
  • Branches dark brown, glabrescent (mostly hairless).
  • Branchlets densely lanate (Woolly) to floccose (tufty wool).

Leaves:

  • Alternate.
  • Buds of all salix spp. (Willows) are covered by a single scale.
  • Narrowly elliptic to narrowly ovate in shape.
  • 2-10cm long.
  • Leaf margins smooth and somewhat inrolled.
  • Undersurface dull, velvety, white-tomentos (fuzzy).
  • Upper surface dark green, glabrescent.

Reproductive Parts:

  • Flowers lacking a parianth(sepals + petals). Born in cylindrical catkins.
  • Plants dioecious (uni-sexual).
  • Catkins appearing before leaves.
  • Pistillate catkins (female) 2-5cm long, on short leafy peduncles (stalks), styles about 1mm long.
  • Pedicels (stalks) about 1mm long.
  • Nectary 1, red in life, 1/2 to as long as the stipe (stalk).
  • Bracts narrowly oblong in shape, pale to dark brown, pubescent (hairy) on both sides.

Seed:

  • Fruit a dehiscent (splitting open) capsule containing numerous small seeds.
  • Seed capsules (mature pistils) densely white-lanate (woolly), becoming glabrescent (nearly hairless) or sparsely lanate.

Not to Be Confused With:

  • Many of the erect shrub Salix (Willow) species can be hard to distinguish from each other. Useing the Keys and especially the Character Chart Key on the Salicaceae (Willow Family) Page should help.

Biology

Physiology:

  • Are insect pollenated. Both male and female flowers have nectaries to attract pollenating insects. Male pollen is also brightly coloured red or yellow to attract insects.
  • Several types of galls can be seen on willows. These are deformations of plant tissue caused by the physical actions or chemical secretions of insects.
  • Willow Roses are a type of gall that grows on some species of willow. It is caused by the larvae of Cecidomyia rosaria. The larvae through chemical secretions cause the leaves of the bud to grow in a rose petal like fashion.

Life Cycle:

Seasonal Cycle:

  • Leaves and catkins deciduous.
  • Catkins appearing before the leaves.

Ecology

Animal Uses:

  • In spring and early summer the catkins and young leaves are eagerly eaten by many mammals and birds.
  • Moose, caribou and deer all eat the twigs and young branches.
  • The twigs and bark are eaten by hares and lemmings.
  • Willow is an important food for bears and a secondary food for beavers.
  • Willow is an important food for many animals.
  • Winter buds are one of the principle winter foods of ptarmigan and grouse.

Habitat:

  • Occasional in open alkaline fens, in birch-willow thickets bordering ponds.
  • On river terraces.

Uses

Modern:

Industrial:

Medicinal:

    Food:

      Traditional Gwich'in:

      Folklore:

        Industrial:

          Medicinal:

            Food:

              Traditional Other:

              Folklore:

                Industrial:

                  Medicinal:

                    Food:

                      Images

                      Leaves (photo by Jamie Fenneman)


                      Male catkins out before the leaves (photo by Curtis Bjork)


                      Female catkins out before the leaves (photo by Curtis Bjork)


                      Illustration from: Illustrated Flora of BC


                      Range Maps

                      World Range: North American; from NL to east-central AK and south to NJ, SD, CO, and ID.

                      Prov/State Abrev. List


                      In Yukon: Found as far north as Mayo

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