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basket willow, common osier, osier, osier willow, silky osier

Stems

branches yellow-brown, gray-brown, or yellowish, not glaucous, glabrous or puberulent;

branchlets yellow-brown or yellowish (sometimes color obscured by hairs), glabrous, densely to sparsely villous, velvety, or puberulent.

Leaves

stipules (not adnate to petioles), rudimentary or absent on early ones, (late ones sometimes brownish, linear, 5.4–10.4 mm), apex acuminate;

petiole shallowly grooved adaxially, 4–13 mm, villous, puberulent, or velvety adaxially;

largest medial blade linear, lorate, narrowly oblong, or narrowly elliptic, 53–130 × 5–33 mm, base cuneate, margins strongly revolute, sinuate or apparently entire, (glands epilaminal), apex acuminate, acute, or convex, abaxial surface apparently glaucous (obscured by hairs), densely short-silky, woolly, or tomentose, (midribs prominent, yellowish, and hairy), hairs appressed, spreading or erect, straight or wavy, adaxial dull or slightly glossy, sparsely or moderately densely pubescent, hairs gray;

proximal blade margins entire;

juvenile blade yellowish green, very densely tomentose or short-silky abaxially, hairs white.

Staminate flowers

adaxial nectary narrowly oblong or oblong, 0.6–1.5 mm;

filaments distinct;

anthers purple turning yellow, ellipsoid to shortly cylindrical, 0.6–0.8 mm.

Pistillate flowers

adaxial nectary narrowly oblong or oblong, 0.9–1.4 mm;

ovary pyriform, beak gradually tapering to styles;

ovules 12–18 per ovary;

styles 0.6–1.8 mm.

Capsules

4–6 mm.

Catkins

flowering just before or as leaves emerge;

staminate stout, 24–48 mm, flowering branchlet 0–2 mm;

pistillate densely flowered, 23–55 mm, flowering branchlet 0–6 mm;

floral bract brown or tawny, 1.6–2.2 mm, apex convex or rounded, abaxially hairy, hairs straight.

2n

= 38.

Salix viminalis

Phenology Flowering Apr-early May.
Habitat Sandy, open woods, cobble rivershores, lake margins, and roadsides
Elevation 0-300 m (0-1000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CT; IA; IN; MA; ME; NJ; NY; OH; RI; VT; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; Europe [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Salix ×smithiana (S. caprea × S. viminalis) is distinguished from S. viminalis by having leaf blades usually broad, 2.8–4.9(–6.4) times as long as wide, stipes 0.9–2 mm, ovaries short-silky, branches ± brittle at base, and petioles flat to convex adaxially; S. viminalis has leaf blades usually very narrow, 4.7–13.7 times as long as wide, stipes 0.1–0.5 mm, ovaries long-silky, branches flexible at base, and petioles shallowly grooved adaxially.

See Salix ×smithiana [p. 132] and 86. S. pellita for further comparative descriptions.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 7, p. 149.
Parent taxa Salicaceae > Salix > subg. Vetrix > sect. Viminella
Sibling taxa
S. alaxensis, S. alba, S. amygdaloides, S. arbusculoides, S. arctica, S. arctophila, S. argyrocarpa, S. arizonica, S. athabascensis, S. atrocinerea, S. aurita, S. babylonica, S. ballii, S. barclayi, S. barrattiana, S. bebbiana, S. bonplandiana, S. boothii, S. brachycarpa, S. breweri, S. calcicola, S. candida, S. caprea, S. caroliniana, S. cascadensis, S. chamissonis, S. chlorolepis, S. cinerea, S. columbiana, S. commutata, S. cordata, S. daphnoides, S. delnortensis, S. discolor, S. drummondiana, S. eastwoodiae, S. elaeagnos, S. eriocephala, S. euxina, S. exigua, S. famelica, S. farriae, S. floridana, S. fuscescens, S. geyeriana, S. glauca, S. gooddingii, S. hastata, S. herbacea, S. hookeriana, S. humboldtiana, S. humilis, S. interior, S. irrorata, S. jejuna, S. jepsonii, S. laevigata, S. lasiandra, S. lasiolepis, S. lemmonii, S. ligulifolia, S. lucida, S. lutea, S. maccalliana, S. melanopsis, S. monochroma, S. monticola, S. myricoides, S. myrsinifolia, S. myrtillifolia, S. nigra, S. niphoclada, S. nivalis, S. nummularia, S. orestera, S. ovalifolia, S. pedicellaris, S. pellita, S. pentandra, S. petiolaris, S. petrophila, S. phlebophylla, S. planifolia, S. polaris, S. prolixa, S. pseudomonticola, S. pseudomyrsinites, S. pulchra, S. purpurea, S. pyrifolia, S. raupii, S. reticulata, S. richardsonii, S. rotundifolia, S. scouleriana, S. sericea, S. serissima, S. sessilifolia, S. setchelliana, S. silicicola, S. sitchensis, S. sphenophylla, S. stolonifera, S. taxifolia, S. thurberi, S. tracyi, S. triandra, S. turnorii, S. tweedyi, S. tyrrellii, S. uva-ursi, S. vestita, S. wolfii, S. ×fragilis, S. ×jesupii, S. ×pendulina, S. ×sepulcralis, S. ×smithiana
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1021. (1753)
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