Distribution. Banks of streams in low moist ground; valley of the Klamath River, California, southward along the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, the central valley, and on the Coast Ranges to southern California; on Santa Catalina Island and on the mountains of southern Arizona; on the Sierra de Laguna, Lower California; occasionally ascending to altitudes of 4000° above the sea.
15. [Salix Mackenzieana] Barr.
Leaves lanceolate to oblanceolate, or elliptic, long-pointed at apex, cuneate or rounded at base, finely crenately serrate, reddish and pilose with caducous pale hairs when they unfold, at maturity thin and firm in texture, light green above, pale below, 1½′—2′ long, about ½′—¾′ wide, on summer shoots, often 4′ long and 1½′ wide, with a slender yellow midrib, arcuate veins, and obscure reticulate veinlets; petioles thin, yellow, about ⅓′ long; stipules reniform, conspicuously veined, about 1/16′ broad. Flowers: aments densely flowered, glabrous, erect, often more or less curved, about 1½′ long, terminal on short leafy branchlets; scales oblanceolate, acute, dark-colored; stamens 2, with elongated free glabrous filaments; ovary cylindric, long-stalked, elongated, gradually narrowed into a short style, with spreading emarginate stigmas. Fruit ovoid, acuminate, light brown, about ⅛′ long; pedicels about ⅙′ in length.
A small tree, with a slender trunk, upright branches forming a narrow shapely head, and slender branchlets marked with scattered lenticels, glabrous or slightly puberulous and often tinged with red when they first appear, soon becoming yellow and lustrous, growing lighter colored in their second year. Winter-buds ovoid, rounded on the back, compressed and acute at the apex, bright orange color, about ⅛′ long.
Distribution. Borders of streams and swamps; shores of Great Slave Lake southward through the region at the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains to Saskatchewan, northern Idaho, and northwestern Wyoming, and to western Nevada (Lake County; M. S. Bebb), and on the high Sierra Nevada in Calaveras and Mariposa Counties, California (W. L. Jepson).
16. [Salix missouriensis] Bebb.
Leaves lanceolate or oblanceolate, acuminate and long-pointed at apex, gradually narrowed from above the middle to the cuneate or rounded base, finely glandular-serrate, coated with pale hairs on the lower surface and pilose on the upper surface when they unfold, soon becoming nearly glabrous, at maturity thin and firm, dark green above, pale and often silvery white below, 4′—6′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, with slender veins often united near the margins and connected by coarse reticulate veinlets; petioles stout, pubescent or tomentose, ½′—¾′ long; stipules foliaceous, semicordate, pointed or rarely reniform and obtuse, serrate with incurved teeth, dark green and glabrous on the upper side, coated on the lower with hoary tomentum, reticulate-venulose, often ½′ long, deciduous or persistent during the season. Flowers: aments oblong-cylindric, densely flowered, appearing early in February on short leafy branchlets, the staminate 1½′ long and nearly ½′ wide and rather longer than the more slender pistillate aments becoming at maturity lax and 3′—4′ long; scales oblong-obovate, light green, and covered on the outer surface with long straight white hairs; stamens 2, with elongated free glabrous filaments; ovary cylindric, short-stalked, beaked, glabrous, with a short style and spreading entire or slightly emarginate stigmas. Fruit narrow, long-pointed, light reddish brown, ⅓′ in length; pedicels about half the length of the scales.
A tree, 40°—50° high, with a tall straight trunk 10′—12′ or rarely 18′ in diameter, rather slender upright slightly spreading branches forming a narrow open symmetrical head, and slender branchlets marked by small scattered orange-colored lenticels, light green and coated during their first year with thick pale pubescence, becoming reddish brown and glabrous or puberulous in their second winter. Winter-buds ovoid, round, or flattened, acute at the apex, reddish brown, hoary-tomentose, nearly 1′ long. Bark thin, smooth, light gray, slightly tinged with red, and covered with minute closely appressed plate-like scales. Wood dark red-brown, with thin pale sapwood; durable, used for fence-posts.