Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Salix sericea Marshall
- Family: Willow (Salicaceae)
- Flowering: March-May
- Field Marks: This willow is distinguished by the silky hairs on the back of the narrowly lanceolate leaves and on the capsules.
- Habitat: Along streams, damp thickets.
- Habit: Shrub to 12 feet tall; bark gray.
- Stems: Twigs slender, brown to purple-tinged, smooth or finely hairy; buds oblongoid, rounded at the tip, finely hairy.
- Leaves: Alternate, simple, lanceolate, pointed at the tip, tapering to the base, finely toothed, green and smooth on the upper surface, silky-hairy on the lower surface, particularly when young, up to 4 inches long, up to 1 inch wide; leaf stalks up to 3/4 inch long, sometimes with tiny glands.
- Flowers: Male and female borne in separate spikes on different shrubs, similar in appearance, up to 2 1/2 inches long, appearing before the leaves expand; bracts brown to black, hairy.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 2.
- Pistils: Ovary superior, hairy.
- Fruits: Capsules ovoid to oblongoid, rounded at the tip, silky-hairy, up to 1/6 inch long.
Previous Species -- Shining Willow (Salix lucida)
Return to Species List -- Group 5
Next Species -- Narrow-leaf Meadow-sweet (Spiraea alba)
