Salix cinerea |
Salix thurberi |
|
---|---|---|
gray willow, large gray or gray willow, large gray willow |
Thurber's willow |
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Habit | Shrubs, 3–7 m. Stems: branches brownish, not glaucous, pilose, villous, or tomentose to glabrescent, (peeled wood with striae to 62 mm); branchlets yellow-brown, pilose, velvety, or densely villous. | Shrubs or trees, 4–10 m. Stems: branches red-brown, glabrous or glabrescent; branchlets yellow-green, red-brown, or violet, tomentose or pubescent to glabrescent. |
Leaves | stipules rudimentary or foliaceous on early ones, foliaceous on late ones, apex acute or rounded; petiole convex to flat adaxially, 4–15 mm, tomentose adaxially; largest medial blade elliptic, broadly elliptic, oblanceolate, or obovate, 65–105 × 22–52 mm, 2–3 times as long as wide, base convex or cuneate, margins slightly revolute, entire, crenate, or sinuate, (glands submarginal), apex acuminate or convex, abaxial surface glaucous, tomentose, hairs erect or spreading, curly, adaxial dull or slightly glossy, pubescent or tomentose; proximal blade margins entire; juvenile blade yellowish green, sparsely to densely tomentose abaxially, hairs white. |
stipules absent or rudimentary; petiole 0–4(–8) mm, pubescent or short-silky adaxially; largest medial blade linear, 66–95(–140) × 2–16 mm, 11–35 times as long as wide, base cuneate, margins flat, remotely spinulose-serrulate, apex acute to subacuminate, abaxial surface very thinly glaucous, sparsely short-silky (especially along midrib), to glabrescent, adaxial slightly glossy, short-silky, pilose to glabrescent; proximal blade margins entire; juvenile blade reddish or yellowish green, moderately densely to sparsely long-silky to glabrescent abaxially. |
Staminate flowers | adaxial nectary oblong or ovate, 0.5–1 mm; filaments distinct, glabrous or hairy basally; anthers yellow or purple turning yellow, ellipsoid or shortly cylindrical, 0.7–1 mm. |
abaxial nectary absent, adaxial nectary ovate, narrowly oblong, or flask-shaped, 0.6–1.4 mm; filament hairy; anthers 0.3–0.8 mm. |
Pistillate flowers | adaxial nectary oblong or square, 0.4–1 mm, shorter than stipe; stipe 1.2–2.7 mm; ovary pyriform, long-silky, beak slightly bulged below styles; ovules 12 per ovary; styles 0.2–0.5 mm; stigmas slenderly or broadly cylindrical, 0.3–0.6 mm. |
adaxial nectary narrowly oblong to ovate, 0.4–0.7 mm, shorter to longer than stipe; stipe 0–0.8 mm; ovary obclavate to pyriform, densely long-silky or villous, beak abruptly tapering to styles; ovules 16–36 per ovary; styles 0–0.2 mm; stigmas flat, abaxially non-papillate with rounded tip, or broadly cylindrical, 0.3–0.7 mm. |
Capsules | 5–5.6 mm. |
(2.5–)4–7 mm. |
Catkins | flowering before leaves emerge; staminate stout or subglobose, 26–39 × 12–26 mm, flowering branchlet 0–5 mm; pistillate densely flowered, stout or subglobose, 27–54(–75 in fruit) × 4–15 mm, flowering branchlet 1–5(–10) mm; floral bract dark brown, black, or bicolor, 2–3 mm, apex acute or convex, abaxially hairy, hairs straight. |
staminate 8–35 × 6 mm, flowering branchlet 3–55 mm; pistillate loosely flowered, slender, 15–40(–50) × 3.2–8 mm, flowering branchlet 7–28 mm; floral bract 2–4 mm, apex acute or acuminate, entire, abaxially hairy, hairs wavy. |
2n | = 76. |
|
Salix cinerea |
Salix thurberi |
|
Phenology | Flowering mid Mar-late May. | Flowering Mar–Dec. |
Habitat | Stream shores, mesic woodlands, gravelly or sandy beaches, waste ground | Sandy to silty floodplains, disturbed areas |
Elevation | 0-700 m (0-2300 ft) | 0-1600 m (0-5200 ft) |
Distribution |
AL; CT; DC; GA; IA; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MO; NC; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; UT; VA; WI; WV; ON; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
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TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Veracruz) |
Discussion | The Ohio occurrence of Salix cinerea is based on information from T. Cooperrider (pers. comm.). Salix cinerea and S. atrocinerea are very closely related. Their occurrence in the flora area, as naturalized introductions, is not well understood, probably because they usually are introduced under the name S. caprea, and that species often is not treated in North American floristic literature (e.g., C. K. Schneider 1921; M. L. Fernald 1950). They probably are introductions of long-standing brought to the New World for their value as ornamentals and bee-plants. Salix atrocinerea was first documented in the southeastern United States (G. W. Argus 1986) after plants with ferruginous hairs and prominently striate wood were found in North Carolina; since that time, it has been found in other states and provinces. In the northeastern states, S. atrocinerea and S. cinerea are thought to be invasive species. The species do reproduce by seed and hundreds of seedlings were observed in a drained reservoir (A. Zinovjev, pers. comm.) and on sandy pond shores (T. Rawinski, pers. comm.), where they are thought to compete with native species. The presence of long, prominent, striae on the peeled wood of 4–5 year old branches is commonly used in European literature (K. H. Rechinger 1993; A. K. Skvortsov 1999) to separate Salix cinerea and S. atrocinerea from S. caprea etc., in which the wood is smooth or with fewer, shorter striae. In the flora area, long striae also occur in S. bebbiana, S. discolor, and S. humilis, but usually they are not as long as or as prominent in S. cinerea and S. atrocinerea. Some floras (e.g., F. Martini and P. Paiero 1988) use the relative prominence of striae to separate S. cinerea and S. atrocinerea, but their separation remains difficult. The presence of ferruginous hairs on the leaves of S. atrocinerea is the best diagnostic characteristic, but they are not always present or easily observed. For a comparison of these species, see the key to species under subg. Vetrix. For further discussion of morphologies, see Salix ×smithiana Willdenow [p. 132] and 76. S. discolor. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The description above is based on specimens supplemented by published descriptions (W. W. Rowlee 1900; C. R. Ball 1961; R. D. Dorn 1998). Ball noted that aside from some characters, Salix thurberi is similar to S. interior. Ball’s and Dorn’s concepts of the species were not the same because Ball gave the Texas distribution as Brewster, Cameron, El Paso, Guadalupe, Hidalgo, Jeff Davis, Matagorda, Starr, and Val Verde counties, but Dorn recognized it only in Pecos and Val Verde counties. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 132. | FNA vol. 7, p. 58. |
Parent taxa | Salicaceae > Salix > subg. Vetrix > sect. Cinerella | Salicaceae > Salix > subg. Longifoliae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. exigua var. angustissima, S. interior var. angustissima, S. longifolia var. angustissima | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1021. (1753) | Rowlee: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 27: 252. (1900) |
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