Salix humboldtiana |
Salix humilis |
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Humboldt's willow |
gray or small pussy or upland willow, prairie willow |
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Habit | Shrubs, 0.3–3 m, (forming clones by layering). | |||||
Stems | branches dark red-brown, not or weakly glaucous, tomentose to glabrescent; branchlets red-brown, yellow-brown, or greenish brown, moderately to very densely villous, tomentose, or velvety-tomentose to glabrescent. |
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Leaves | stipules absent or rudimentary on early ones, absent, rudimentary or foliaceous on late ones, apex acute; petiole convex to flat, or shallowly grooved adaxially, 0.5–7(–12) mm, velvety, pilose, or villous adaxially; largest medial blade (sometimes hemiamphistomatous), narrowly oblong, narrowly elliptic, elliptic, oblanceolate, obovate, or broadly obovate, (13–)20–90(–135) × 3–23(–35) mm, 2.3–9 times as long as wide, base cuneate or convex, margins revolute or flat, entire, crenate, or sinuate, (glands submarginal), apex acuminate or convex, abaxial surface glaucous, sparsely to densely tomentose or woolly, hairs erect or spreading, wavy, adaxial slightly or highly glossy, glabrous, pubescent, tomentose, or pilose; proximal blade margins entire or serrulate; juvenile blade green, densely tomentose to glabrescent abaxially, hairs white, sometimes also ferruginous. |
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Staminate flowers | adaxial nectary oblong or square, 0.2–0.7 mm; filaments distinct, glabrous or hairy basally; anthers purple turning yellow, ellipsoid or cylindrical, 0.4–0.6 mm. |
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Pistillate flowers | adaxial nectary square, 0.4–0.8 mm, shorter than stipe; stipe 1–2.5 mm; ovary obclavate or pyriform, moderately densely to sparsely short-silky-villous (hairs refractive), beak slightly bulged below styles, (valves recurving in fruit); ovules 6–12 per ovary; styles (sometimes slightly distinct distally), 0.2–0.4 mm; stigmas slenderly to broadly cylindrical, 0.2–0.56 mm. |
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Capsules | 5–12 mm. |
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Salix | humboldtiana Willdenow: Humboldt willow is not known to occur in the flora area. |
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It | 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. |
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Catkins | flowering before leaves emerge; staminate 6.5–34 × 5–19 mm, flowering branchlet 0–1 mm; pistillate (and staminate) moderately to very densely flowered, stout, subglobose, or globose, 9–47(–55 in fruit) × 5.5–19 mm, flowering branchlet 0–4 mm; floral bract brown, black, or bicolor, 0.8–2 mm, apex rounded or acute, abaxially moderately densely hairy, hairs (white), straight or wavy. |
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Salix humboldtiana |
Salix humilis |
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Distribution |
Mexico to central Chile |
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV; MB; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC
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Discussion | 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.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Varieties humilis and tristis are almost sympatric. In Maine they occur in the same populations without evident intermediate forms, while in other places, e.g., Florida, Georgia, and Nebraska, they apparently intergrade. Usually, they are distinct in habit, leaf and catkin size, and, most conspicuously, the presence of foliaceous stipules in var. humilis and their absence in var. tristis. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 34. | FNA vol. 7, p. 129. | ||||
Parent taxa | Salicaceae > Salix > subg. Protitea > sect. Humboldtianae | Salicaceae > Salix > subg. Vetrix > sect. Cinerella | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Willdenow | Marshall: Arbust. Amer., 140. (1785) | ||||
Web links |