Salix lucida
Salix silicicola
Pacific willow (var. lasiandra), shining willow, whiplash willow (ssp. caudata)
blanket-leaf willow
branches yellow-brown, gray-brown, or red-brown, not glaucous, villous in patches to glabrescent;
branchlets gray-brown or red-brown, very densely villous.
stipules foliaceous, apex convex to rounded;
petiole shallowly to deeply grooved adaxially, 5–13 mm, with clusters of spherical or foliaceous glands distally, glabrous, pilose, or densely villous adaxially;
largest medial blade usually hypostomatous or hemiamphistomatous, rarely amphistomatous, lorate, very narrowly elliptic, narrowly elliptic, or lanceolate, (24–)55–133 × 11–43 mm, 2.5–6.2 times as long as wide, base convex or cuneate, margins flat, serrulate, apex acuminate to caudate, abaxial surface usually not glaucous (rarely so), glabrous, pilose, or moderately densely villous or long-silky, hairs appressed or spreading, white and/or ferruginous, straight or wavy, (coarse, caducous), adaxial (secondary veins flat or protruding), slightly or highly glossy, glabrous, pilose, or long-silky, hairs white and/or ferruginous;
proximal blade margins entire and glandular-dotted, or serrulate or crenulate;
juvenile blade reddish or yellowish green, glabrous or densely villous or long-silky abaxially, hairs white and ferruginous.
stipules foliaceous, apex acute to acuminate;
petiole convex to flat adaxially, 5–12 mm, villous or tomentose adaxially, (strongly ventricose around floral buds);
largest medial blade (apparently hypostomatous but surfaces obscured by hairs), narrowly oblong, narrowly elliptic, elliptic, or obovate, 36–84 × 19–40 mm, 1.8–3.6 times as long as wide, base convex or cuneate, margins slightly revolute, entire, apex convex or acuminate, abaxial surface very densely woolly-tomentose, hairs wavy, adaxial dull, moderately to very densely, villous-tomentose;
proximal blade margins entire;
juvenile blade color obscured by hairs, very densely tomentose-woolly abaxially, hairs white.
abaxial nectary 0.5–1.1 mm, adaxial nectary square or ovate, 0.3–0.9 mm, nectaries connate and cup-shaped;
stamens 3–6;
filaments distinct, hairy on proximal 1/2 or basally;
anthers ellipsoid, shortly cylindrical, obovoid, or globose, 0.6–0.8 mm.
adaxial nectary oblong to narrowly oblong, 0.6–1.5 mm;
filaments distinct;
anthers yellow, ellipsoid, 0.6–0.7 mm.
adaxial nectary square or ovate, (swollen), 0.2–0.5 mm, shorter than stipe;
stipe 0.5–2 mm;
ovary pyriform, beak slightly bulged below or gradually tapering to styles;
ovules 18–24 per ovary;
styles connate or distinct 1/2 their lengths, 0.5–0.8 mm;
stigmas flat, abaxially non-papillate with rounded tip, broadly cylindrical, or 2 plump lobes, 0.24–0.31–0.42 mm.
adaxial nectary oblong or obtriangular, 0.5–1.1 mm;
stipe 0–0.3 mm;
ovary pyriform, beak gradually tapering to styles;
ovules 12–14 per ovary;
styles 1.2–2.2 mm;
stigmas 0.52–0.75–1 mm.
5–7 mm.
4–7 mm.
staminate 19–69 × 4–14 mm, flowering branchlet 5–23 mm; pistillate (fruiting in summer), moderately densely to loosely flowered, slender to stout, 23–56(–70 in fruit) × 8–12 mm, flowering branchlet 8–25 mm;
floral bract 1.5–3 mm, apex convex or rounded, entire or toothed, abaxially sparsely hairy throughout or proximally, hairs wavy.
flowering before leaves emerge; staminate stout, 40–56 × 14–15 mm, flowering branchlet 0 mm; pistillate densely flowered, slender, 35–125(–130 in fruit) mm, flowering branchlet 0 mm;
floral bract brown or black, 2–3 mm, apex convex to rounded, abaxially hairy, hairs straight.
= 76.
= 38.
Salix lucida
Salix silicicola
The Virginia plants of Salix lucida are introduced (G. W. Argus 1986).
The Salix lucida complex is a group of three weakly delimited taxa, S. lasiandra var. caudata, S. lasiandra var. lasiandra, and S. lucida. The morphological characters used to separate them (leaves amphistomatous or hypostomatous and blades glaucous abaxially or not) are usually geographically correlated, but there are exceptions. G. W. Argus (1986b) proposed, based on principal components analysis of morphological data, to treat them as a single species consisting of three subspecies. The geographic overlap of the northeastern S. lucida and the western S. lasiandra is a relatively small area in central Saskatchewan. Evidence of intergradation was based on cultivation of a plant that, in the wild, had leaves that were not glaucous abaxially but were glaucous in cultivation. It seems best to treat them as two species, S. lucida and S. lasiandra, the latter with two varieties, var. lasiandra and var. caudata.
Hybrids:
Salix lucida forms natural hybrids with S. alba and S. nigra. Hybrids with S. serissima have been reported (M. L. Fernald 1950) but no convincing specimens have been seen. Attempts to hybridize S. lucida with members of subg. Protitea (S. amygdaloides), subg. Longifoliae (S. interior), and subg. Vetrix (S. discolor, S. eriocephala, and S. petiolaris) were unsuccessful (A. Mosseler 1990).
Salix lucida × S. nigra (S. ×schneideri B. Boivin) seems to be a rare intersubgeneric hybrid between tetraploid S. lucida and diploid S. nigra. It is known only from the type specimen, an infertile plant, growing with both parents. It resembles S. lucida in bud-scale margins connate, in petiolar glands stalked or foliaceous, and in leaf shape, and S. nigra in stipules rudimentary on proximal leaves and sometimes even on early leaves, stipule apex acute, pistillate catkins relatively long and slender, and styles relatively short.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Comparisons of genetic variation in Salix alaxensis var. alaxensis from British Columbia and S. silicicola from Lake Athabasca sand dunes, Saskatchewan, based on isozyme loci, fit predicted relationships between progenitor and derived taxon (B. G. Purdy and R. J. Bayer 1995). Allelic diversity of S. silicicola was a subset of that of S. alaxensis, there was less genetic variation in S. silicicola than in S. alaxensis, and interspecific genetic variation within the two species was similar and relatively very high. This suggested a recent origin for the derived S. silicicola.
Salix silicicola is a uniform population that differs from S. alaxensis in its very densely villous or tomentose leaves and branchlets. These characters seem to be an adaptation to reduce sand abrasion and water loss in a sand dune environment. It is unlikely that it would have evolved in situ but probably derived from a pre-adapted source such as the one represented by specimens of putative S. silicicola from Pelly Lake, Nunavut. The isozyme study did not include specimens from that population or of S. alaxensis from Northwest Territories from which S. silicicola is likely to have been derived. Occurrence of S. silicicola-like plants in northern continental Nunavut suggests that during the late Pleistocene, it had a wider range, which now is represented by two disjunct populations. The question of appropriate taxonomic rank for the derived taxon is still unresolved. Although S. silicicola is different from S. alaxensis in its general appearance, they are very similar genetically, and argument could be made for treating them as varieties (B. Boivin 1966b).
Hybrids:
Salix silicicola forms natural hybrids with S. brachycarpa var. psammophila.
of conservation concern
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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