Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin

SAGE WILLOW

(Salix candida Willd.)

WILLOW FAMILY (Salicaceae)

IND. STATUS: OBL

FIELD CHARACTERISTICS: A low deciduous shrub, usually up to 1 m. high. Leaves are entire with inrolled margins, have dense white-matted hairs on the undersides, and are 4-8 cm. long by 0.7-2 cm. wide (between 5-10 times as long as wide). Twigs are also covered by dense white-matted hairs, but they tend to become somewhat hairless with age. Catkins are pink-white in color. Fruits are woolly. Flowers in April and May.

ECOLOGICAL NOTES: In addition to calcareous fens, this small willow is found in wet to wet-mesic prairies, coniferous swamps and bogs. It usually is found growing solitary and scattered.

SOURCE: Gleason and Cronquist (1991); and Swink and Wilhelm (1994).

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