Salix viminalis |
Salix ×sepulcralis |
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basket willow, common osier, osier, osier willow, silky osier |
golden weeping willow, weeping willow |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Capsules | 4–6 mm. |
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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. |
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Salix | ||
It | is characterized by: trees, to 12 m, stems pendulous; branches somewhat to highly brittle at base, yellowish, yellow-green, or yellow-brown; branchlets yellowish, yellow-green, or golden; stipules rudimentary or foliaceous on late leaves; petiole not glandular or with pairs or clusters of spherical glands distally or scattered throughout, short-silky adaxially; largest medial blade amphistomatous or hemiamphistomatous, narrowly elliptic to very narrowly so, margins finely serrulate or spinulose-serrulate, abaxial surface glaucous, adaxial glaucous, sparsely long-silky to glabrescent, hairs white or white and ferruginous, adaxial surface slightly glossy; catkins on distinct flowering branchlet 3–14 mm; staminate moderately densely flowered, slender, 23–53 × 3–9 mm; pistillate moderately densely to loosely flowered, slender to stout, 18–30 × 3–8 mm, flowering branchlet 3–14 mm; pistillate bracts persistent after flowering; staminate abaxial and adaxial nectaries distinct; stamens 2; anthers 0.5–0.8 mm; pistillate nectary longer than stipe; stipe 0–0.2 mm; ovaries gradually tapering to styles; ovules 4 per ovary; styles 0.15–2 mm; capsules 1–2 mm. |
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2n | = 38. |
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Salix viminalis |
Salix ×sepulcralis |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr-early May. | |
Habitat | Sandy, open woods, cobble rivershores, lake margins, and roadsides | |
Elevation | 0-300 m (0-1000 ft) | |
Distribution |
CT; IA; IN; MA; ME; NJ; NY; OH; RI; VT; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; Europe [Introduced in North America] |
AK; AR; AZ; CA; CT; DC; IA; IL; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; NC; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OR; PA; TN; UT; VA; WV; BC; NB; NS; ON; QC [Introduced in North America] |
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.) |
The most commonly cultivated, and sometimes escaped, weeping willow with golden or yellow-green branchlets is Salix ×sepulcralis nothovar. chrysocoma (Dode) Meikle. It probably originated as S. alba var. vitellina × S. babylonica (R. D. Meikle 1984). According to F. S. Santamour Jr. and A. J. McArdle (1988), S. ×sepulcralis cv. Salamonii has a broadly pyramidal crown and is only slightly pendulous. It is not clear just how this cultivar differs from S. ×pendulina. For a discussion of the taxonomy of these and other weeping willows see J. Chmela (1983). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 7, p. 149. | FNA vol. 7, p. 40. |
Parent taxa | Salicaceae > Salix > subg. Vetrix > sect. Viminella | Salicaceae > Salix > subg. Salix > sect. Subalbae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | family salicaceae S. subg. salix section subalbae ×salamonii, family salicaceae S. subg. salix section subalbae ×sepulcralis nothovar. chrysocoma | |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1021. (1753) | Simonkai |
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