Salix bebbiana
Salix interior
beak willow, Bebb willow, Bebb's willow, gray or Bebb's or long-beak willow, gray willow, grey willow, long-beak willow
sandbar willow
branches divaricate, sometimes ± brittle at base, yellow-brown to dark red-brown, not or weakly glaucous, pilose to glabrescent, peeled wood often with very dense striae, to 25 mm;
branchlets yellow-green or red-brown, moderately to very densely villous to glabrescent.
stipules rudimentary or absent on early ones, apex acute, acuminate, or convex;
petiole convex to flat adaxially, 2–5.5–13 mm, pubescent adaxially;
largest medial blade narrowly oblong, narrowly elliptic, elliptic, oblanceolate, or obovate, 20–44–87 × 10–16–45 mm, base cuneate, convex, or rounded, margins flat, entire, crenate, or irregularly serrate, glands submarginal, apex acute, acuminate, or convex, abaxial surface glaucous, moderately densely pubescent or long-silky to glabrescent, hairs white or gray, wavy, adaxial finely impressed-reticulate, dull or slightly glossy, moderately densely pubescent, sparsely short-silky, or glabrescent, hairs white or gray;
proximal blade margins entire, gland-dotted;
juvenile blade yellowish green or reddish, pilose or sparsely to moderately densely tomentose or long-silky abaxially, hairs white.
stipules absent or rudimentary on early ones, rudimentary or foliaceous on late ones;
petiole 1–5(–9) mm, glabrous or sparsely villous adaxially;
largest medial blade linear to lorate, 60–160 × 4–11 mm, (6.5–)11–19(–31) times as long as wide, base cuneate, margins flat, remotely spinulose-serrulate (teeth 2–5 per cm), apex acute or subacuminate, abaxial surface thinly glaucous, densely villous or long-silky to glabrescent, adaxial slightly glossy, pilose or densely villous to glabrescent;
proximal blade margins entire;
juvenile blade reddish or yellowish green, moderately densely to sparsely long-silky abaxially.
adaxial nectary oblong or ovate, 0.3–0.8 mm;
filaments distinct or connate less than 1/2 their lengths, glabrous or hairy on proximal 1/2;
anthers yellow or purple turning yellow, ellipsoid or shortly cylindrical, 0.5–0.8 mm.
abaxial nectary 0.5–1.1 mm, adaxial nectary ovate, narrowly oblong, or flask-shaped, 0.6–1.4 mm, nectaries distinct;
filaments hairy;
anthers 0.4–0.9 mm.
adaxial nectary oblong or square, 0.3–0.8 mm;
ovary obclavate, beak slightly bulged below styles (long-beaked);
ovules 6–16 per ovary;
styles 0.1–0.4 mm;
stigmas slenderly to broadly cylindrical.
adaxial nectary narrowly oblong, 0.4–1.1 mm, shorter to longer than stipe;
stipe 0.4–0.8 mm;
ovary obclavate to pyriform, glabrous, glabrescent, or long-silky, beak abruptly tapering to styles;
ovules 16–36 per ovary;
styles 0–0.2 mm;
stigmas flat, abaxially non-papillate with pointed tip, or broadly cylindrical, 0.3–0.7 mm.
5–9 mm.
(4–)5–8(–10) mm.
staminate flowering just before leaves emerge, pistillate flowering as leaves emerge; staminate stout to globose, 10–42 × 7–16 mm, flowering branchlet 0.5–11 mm; pistillate loosely flowered, stout, slender, or subglobose, 16.5–85 × 9–32 mm, flowering branchlet 1–26 mm;
floral bract tawny, 1.2–3.2 mm, apex rounded, abaxially hairy to glabrescent, hairs straight or wavy.
(flowering throughout season); staminate 20–61 × 4–10 mm, flowering branchlet 3–20 mm; pistillate loosely flowered, slender or stout, 20–67 × 5–9 mm, flowering branchlet 3–19 mm;
floral bract (sometimes greenish), 1.5–3.5 mm, apex acute, acuminate, or rounded, entire, erose, or toothed, abaxially hairy either proximally or distally, hairs wavy.
= 38.
= 38.
Salix bebbiana
Salix interior
Salix bebbiana occurs in Nunavut on Akimiski Island in James Bay.
Hybrids:
Salix bebbiana forms natural hybrids with S. candida, S. geyeriana, S. humilis, and S. petiolaris. Reports of hybrids with S. discolor (C. K. Schneider 1921; M. L. Fernald 1950) are not based on convincing specimens, and synthetic hybrids could not be made (G. W. Argus 1974). Reports of hybrids with S. eriocephala and S. myricoides (Fernald) are unverified. Controlled pollinations with S. eriocephala and S. interior had low seed viability (A. Mosseler 1990).
Salix bebbiana × S. candida (S. ×cryptodonta Fernald, as species) is intermediate between parental species. It resembles S. candida in having juvenile leaves densely woolly, mature leaves sparsely to moderately woolly abaxially, margins strongly revolute to crenulate, and ovaries woolly; and S. bebbiana in having stipes 2.8–3 mm and capsules long-beaked, 8–9 mm. The hybrid commonly occurs in Newfoundland.
Salix bebbiana × S. geyeriana: A plant with the pistillate catkins and flowers of S. bebbiana and the narrow, entire or slightly serrulate leaves with white and ferruginous hairs of S. geyeriana was collected by R. D. Dorn in a mixed population in Montana (Beaverhead County).
Salix bebbiana × S. humilis: Reported by C. K. Schneider (1921) and M. L. Fernald (1950) and successfully synthesized by G. W. Argus (1974, 1986).
Salix bebbiana × S. petiolaris is known from Ontario, based on an infertile pistillate specimen, and from Alberta and Saskatchewan, where it is relatively uncommon. It was successfully synthesized (G. W. Argus 1974, 1986) and controlled pollinations showed high seed viability (A. Mosseler 1990).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Sometimes Salix interior is treated as a subspecies of S. exigua (R. D. Dorn 1998). Salix exigua and S. interior hybridize and apparently intergrade in the western Great Plains; because the area of overlap is relatively small and distinctiveness of the two taxa is not compromised by hybridization and introgression, it is best to treat them as separate species.
Leaves on sylleptic shoots are usually very densely silky. Salix interior sometimes has shoots that arise from buds on either side of the normal axillary bud. They do not seem to be directly related to the stipules because they are enclosed by the petiole. Catkins with both staminate and pistillate flowers are rare in S. interior, but a Quebec specimen had some catkins predominantly pistillate and others staminate; most were a mixture. The flowers were not teratological, but a mature capsule contained aborted ovules.
Hybrids:
Salix interior forms natural hybrids with S. exigua var. exigua. Controlled pollinations using S. interior (as S. exigua) from southern Ontario (A. Mosseler 1990) successfully produced F1 hybrids with S. bebbiana, S. discolor, S. eriocephala, and S. petiolaris. Seed production was usually relatively low, except in crosses with S. discolor. In general, F1 viability was relatively low in crosses with these members of subg. Vetrix. No seeds were produced in crosses with members of subgenera Protitea or Salix. Morphology of the hybrids usually was intermediate between the two parents, but when S. petiolaris was used as the maternal parent, the F1s more closely resembled that species. J. Salick and E. Pfeffer (1999) extended these findings to show that, although crosses between S. interior (as S. exigua) and S. eriocephala are partially sterile, their clonal growth parameters (sprouting, shoot length, and biomass production) are strong and thus permit these partially sterile hybrids to exist as successful individuals and perhaps to “... make a contribution to interspecific gene flow over time.” Of particular taxonomic interest is that, in this cross, the staminate parent has a significant influence on leaf shape, whereas in the cross S. eriocephala × S. petiolaris it is the pistillate parent that is significant for leaf shape. Relatively few hybrids resembling those produced by Mosseler have been recognized in nature, but it is possible that the unusually broadly leaved plants named S. interior var. exterior and var. wheeleri, from northern Maine, Nebraska, New York, and West Virginia, and probably elsewhere, may be hybrids. Phenological isolation may be strong enough to prevent crosses in nature (A. Mosseler and C. S. Papadopol 1989) with the earlier flowering S. eriocephala and S. petiolaris, a barrier that even an occasional period of overlap cannot breach.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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