Salix humboldtiana
Salix cascadensis
Humboldt's willow
Cascade willow, Cascades willow
erect or trailing;
branches yellow-brown or gray-brown, (sometimes weakly glaucous), glabrous;
branchlets yellow-green or yellow-brown, glabrous or puberulent.
(marcescent);
stipules absent;
petiole 1.5–5 mm;
largest medial blade usually amphistomatous, narrowly elliptic or elliptic, 9–26 × 3.8–7.5 mm, 2.4–4.3 times as long as wide, base cuneate, margins flat, entire, ciliate, apex acute, acuminate, or convex, abaxial surface glabrous or pilose, hairs wavy, adaxial slightly glossy, glabrous or pilose;
proximal blade margins entire;
juvenile blade glabrous or sparsely villous abaxially.
abaxial nectary (0–)0.2–0.6 mm, adaxial nectary oblong or square, 0.4–1.2 mm, nectaries distinct;
filaments distinct or basally connate;
anthers ellipsoid, 0.3–0.6 mm.
adaxial nectary oblong or square, 0.5–1.2 mm, longer than stipe;
stipe 0–0.6 m;
ovary pyriform, usually densely villous, beak abruptly tapering to or slightly bulged below styles;
ovules 6–10 per ovary;
styles 0.3–1 mm;
stigmas slenderly cylindrical, 0.28–0.39–0.56 mm.
3.5–5 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 (20–50 flowers), 12.5–26.5 × 5.5–9 mm, flowering branchlet 1–11 mm; pistillate moderately densely to loosely flowered, (15–35(–43) flowers), stout or subglobose, 10–23(–30 in fruit) × 5–8 mm, flowering branchlet 2–9 mm;
floral bract brown, 1.6–2.6 mm, apex rounded, entire, abaxially sparsely hairy or ciliate, hairs wavy or straight.
Salix humboldtiana
Salix cascadensis
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.)
The morphological variability of Salix cascadensis is not well understood. Typically, it has leaves that are narrow, sharply pointed, and glaucous abaxially, catkins 15–43-flowered, dark brown floral bracts, and ovaries very densely hairy. Specimens with leaves not glaucous abaxially, catkins relatively few-flowered, and ovaries either sparsely hairy throughout, hairy only on beaks, or hairy in streaks, may be hybrids but the glabrous ovaried S. cascadensis var. thompsonii shows no obvious signs of hybridization.
Hybrids:
Salix cascadensis is suspected to hybridize with S. barclayi.
Salix cascadensis × S. rotundifolia var. dodgeana resembles the former in its narrow, acute to acuminate leaves and the latter in leaves not glaucous abaxially, tawny floral bracts, relatively short catkins, and glabrous ovaries. The catkins are intermediate in being 6–7-flowered.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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