Salix humboldtiana
Salix floridana
Humboldt's willow
Florida willow
branches red-brown, pubescent to glabrescent;
branchlets yellow-brown or red-brown, sparsely velvety or pubescent.
stipules absent or rudimentary on early ones, foliaceous on late ones, apex rounded;
petiole (shallowly grooved adaxially), 13–20 mm, puberulent or velvety adaxially;
largest medial blade narrowly oblong, oblong, lanceolate, or narrowly ovate, 100–170 × 38–55 mm, 2.5–3(–4) times as long as wide, base rounded, convex, or subcordate (cordate on larger leaves), margins serrulate or spinulose-serrulate, apex acute, acuminate, or convex, abaxial surface sparsely tomentose, hairs straight, adaxial highly glossy, sparsely villous or pilose to glabrescent (midrib remaining villous), hairs white and ferruginous;
proximal blade margins entire;
juvenile blade sparsely pubescent to very densely villous or pilose abaxially, hairs white.
abaxial nectary 0.4–0.8 mm, adaxial nectary ovate, 0.5–1.1 mm, nectaries distinct or connate and cup-shaped;
stamens 3–7;
filaments hairy basally;
anthers 0.4–0.5 mm.
adaxial nectary square, 0.5–0.9 mm;
stipe 3.2–5.6 mm;
ovary obclavate to ellipsoidal, (rarely puberulent), beak gradually tapering to styles;
ovules 4 per ovary;
styles 0.3–0.4 mm;
stigmas 0.16–0.17–0.2 mm.
6–7 mm.
humboldtiana Willdenow: Humboldt willow is not known to occur in the flora area.
is characterized by: trees, 4–25 m;
branches highly brittle at base, bud-scale margins distinct and overlapping adaxially;
stipules on late leaves rudimentary or foliaceous;
largest medial leaf blade usually linear, abaxial surface not glaucous, adaxial dull; pistillate bract deciduous after flowering;
stamens 3–7;
capsules with distinct, often raised, white veins.;
it occurs throughout much of Mexico to central Chile.
staminate 29–72 × 12–15 mm, flowering branchlet 1–10 mm; pistillate 50–81 × 17–27 mm, flowering branchlet 5–30 mm;
floral bract (tawny, sometimes greenish), 2–3.6 mm, apex rounded, entire, abaxially sparsely hairy, hairs wavy; pistillate bract persistent after flowering.
= 38.
Salix humboldtiana
Salix floridana
Salix humboldtiana is closely related to S. nigra in its generally narrow leaf blades, which are not glaucous abaxially. The two differ in the following characters: S. humboldtiana has leaf blades linear to sometimes narrowly oblong (10–28.6 times as long as wide), ovaries usually ovoid to ellipsoid, ovary walls often stomatiferous and with raised, white veins, and capsule valves relatively thick, slightly recurved. S. nigra has leaf blades usually narrowly lanceolate (6–13 times as long as wide), ovaries pyriform to obclavate, ovary walls neither stomatiferous nor notably veined, and capsule valves relatively thin and strongly recurved. Both species occur in Chihuahua, Mexico.
The report by R. I. Lonard et al. (1991) that specimens identified as Salix nigra from the lower Rio Grande, Texas, resemble S. humboldtiana in having strongly veined capsules suggests that S. humboldtiana, or intergrades with that species, may occur in Texas. Attempts to locate a voucher specimen were unsuccessful; because strongly veined capsules are diagnostic, further field study is indicated.
An earlier name, Salix chilensis Molina, has been applied to this species; it does not seem to pertain to this taxon (C. K. Schneider 1918).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Of conservation concern.
The closest relatives of Salix floridana are in the Old World sect. Tetraspermae. A detailed discussion of the distribution, taxonomy, and relationships of this uncommon subtropical endemic was given by G. W. Argus (1986).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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