Salix glauca
| Salix glauca | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Salicaceae |
| Genus: | Salix |
| Species: | S. glauca |
| Binomial name | |
| Salix glauca L. |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Salix pseudolapponum |
|
Salix glauca is a species of flowering plant in the willow family known by the common names gray willow, gray-leaf willow, white willow, and glaucous willow. It is native to North America, where it occurs throughout much of Alaska, northern and western Canada, and the contiguous United States south through the Rocky Mountains to northern New Mexico.[1]
This willow is usually a shrub growing up to 1.2 meters tall, but in appropriate habitat it becomes a tree up to 6 meters tall. The smooth gray bark becomes furrowed with age. The species is dioecious, with male and female reproductive parts occurring on separate individuals.[1] This species has secondary sexual dimorphism, with male and female individuals different in function or morphology in aspects other than their reproductive structures. For example, female plants are more sensitive to drought conditions.[2] The seed stays on the plant until fall, when it is dispersed. The seed is coated in downy fibers which help it disperse on the wind and on water. Unlike the seeds of many other willows, these do not germinate immediately on contact with the substrate, but overwinter under the snow and sprout in the spring. This provides cold stratification to the seeds, and allows them a few weeks more to develop than in summer-dispersing willows.[1]
Native Americans used parts of willows, including this species, for medicinal purposes, basket weaving, to make bows and arrows, and for building animal traps.[1]
In the northern part of its range this plant codominates with other species of willow on floodplains and in shrubby riparian and tundra habitat. It may also grow scattered throughout coniferous forests and woodlands, dominated often by spruces. In the southern part of its range it grows in alpine and subalpine climates. Like many other willows, it colonizes freshly cleared habitat, such as floodplains recently scoured by water and forests recently burned.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Uchytil, Ronald J. 1992. Salix glauca. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory.
- ^ Dudley, L. S. (2006). Ecological correlates of secondary sexual dimorphism in Salix glauca (Salicaceae). Am J Bot 93 1775-83.
