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

Alaska bog willow

Habit Plants 0.15–0.55 m, forming clones by layering.
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.

decumbent or trailing;

branches yellow-brown, glabrous;

branchlets red-brown, gray-brown, or yellow-brown, glabrous.

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.

stipules absent or rudimentary;

petiole 2–5.6(–6.4) mm;

largest medial blade hypostomatous, narrowly oblong, oblong, obovate, or broadly obovate, (14–)17–27(–45) × 7–21 mm, 1.4–2.5 times as long as wide, base cuneate or convex, margins slightly revolute or flat, entire, or serrulate to crenate proximally, (glands marginal), apex convex, acuminate, or rounded, abaxial surface glaucous, glabrous, adaxial slightly or highly glossy, glabrous;

proximal blade margins entire, (sometimes hairs ferruginous abaxially);

juvenile blade glabrous.

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.

abaxial nectary absent, adaxial nectary oblong, 0.5–0.8 mm;

filaments distinct or connate less than 1/2 their lengths, glabrous;

anthers ellipsoid or shortly cylindrical, 0.3–0.4 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.

abaxial nectary absent, adaxial nectary oblong, 0.4–0.9 mm, shorter than stipe;

stipe 0.8–2.5 mm;

ovary obclavate, pubescent or short-silky to glabrescent, hairs (often ferruginous), flattened or ribbonlike, beak abruptly tapering to styles;

ovules 8–12 per ovary;

styles connate or distinct distally, 0.1–0.4(–0.65) mm;

stigmas slenderly or broadly cylindrical, 0.24–0.3–0.68 mm.

Capsules

4–6 mm.

5.5–8 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.

staminate 8–58 × 5–19 mm, flowering branchlet 0.5–15 mm; pistillate moderately densely to loosely flowered, slender, stout, or subglobose, 13.5–64(–70 in fruit) × 6.5–15 mm, flowering branchlet 4–18 mm;

floral bract brown or bicolor, 0.8–1.6 mm, apex rounded, entire, abaxially sparsely hairy, hairs (usually white, sometimes also ferruginous), wavy or straight.

2n

= 38.

= 38.

Salix viminalis

Salix fuscescens

Phenology Flowering Apr-early May. Flowering Jun-late Jul.
Habitat Sandy, open woods, cobble rivershores, lake margins, and roadsides Bogs, treed bogs, sedge fens, poorly drained lakeshores, wet tundra, silt or fine sandy-gravel substrates
Elevation 0-300 m (0-1000 ft) 50-1000 m (200-3300 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]
from FNA
AK; MB; NT; NU; YT; e Asia (Chukotka, Japan [Hokkaido], North Korea, Russian Far East, arctic, e Siberia)
[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.)

Hybrids:

Salix fuscescens forms natural hybrids on the arctic coast of Alaska with S. arctica, S. ovalifolia, and S. phlebophylla, and in continental Nunavut with S. herbacea. These hybrids are not usually recognized but they appear sporadically.

Salix fuscescens × S. herbacea has crenate margins and is often confused with the latter species.

Some specimens identified as Salix fuscescens × S. ovalifolia are similar to hybrids with S. phlebophylla, but they lack marcescent leaves.

Salix fuscescens × S. phlebophylla has obovate leaves with one or two pairs of serrulations proximally, and glaucous abaxially as in S. fuscescens, but it grows in relatively dry tundra and has the marcescent, sometimes skeletonized, leaves of S. phlebophylla.

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

Source FNA vol. 7, p. 149. FNA vol. 7, p. 72.
Parent taxa Salicaceae > Salix > subg. Vetrix > sect. Viminella Salicaceae > Salix > subg. Chamaetia > sect. Myrtosalix
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
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. 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. viminalis, S. wolfii, S. ×fragilis, S. ×jesupii, S. ×pendulina, S. ×sepulcralis, S. ×smithiana
Synonyms S. fuscescens var. reducta
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1021. (1753) Andersson: Monogr. Salicum, 97. (1867)
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