Salix lucida

Salix lucida, the shining willow, Pacific willow, red willow, or whiplash willow, is a species of willow native to northern and western North America, occurring in wetland habitats.[1][2][3] It is the largest willow found in British Columbia.[4]

Salix lucida
Salix lucida lucida
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Salicaceae
Genus: Salix
Species:
S. lucida
Binomial name
Salix lucida
Natural range of Salix lucida
subsp. lucida (green)
subsp. lasiandra (blue)

It is a deciduous large shrub or small tree growing to 4–15 metres (13–49 ft) tall.[4] The shoots are greenish-brown to grey-brown. The leaves are narrow elliptic to lanceolate, 4–17 centimetres (1+1⁄2–6+1⁄2 in) long and 1–3.5 cm (1⁄2–1+1⁄2 in) broad, glossy dark green above, usually glaucous green below, hairless or thinly hairy. The flowers are yellow catkins 1–9 cm (1⁄2–3+1⁄2 in) long, produced in late spring after the leaves emerge.[2][3][5]

The subspecies are:[1][2][3]

  • S. l. lucida – shining willow, Newfoundland west to eastern Saskatchewan, and south to Maryland and South Dakota
  • S. l. lasiandra (Benth.) E.Murray (syn. S. lasiandra Benth.) – Pacific willow, Alaska east to Northwest Territory, and south to California and New Mexico.
  • S. l. caudata (Nutt.) E.Murray – whiplash willow, interior western North America from eastern British Columbia south to eastern California and Nevada, included in S. l. lasiandra by some authors.

It is closely related to Salix pentandra of Europe and Asia.[6]

Male catkins of S. l. lasiandra

References
  1. "Salix lucida". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  2. Jepson Flora: Salix lucida
  3. Plants of British Columbia: Salix lucida
  4. Arno, Stephen F.; Hammerly, Ramona P. (2020) [1977]. Northwest Trees: Identifying & Understanding the Region's Native Trees (field guide ed.). Seattle: Mountaineers Books. pp. 192–193. ISBN 978-1-68051-329-5. OCLC 1141235469.
  5. Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Salix lucida Archived 2007-08-17 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Bean, W. J. (1980). Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles 8th ed., vol. 4. John Murray ISBN 0-7195-2428-8.
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