Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
21. Salicaceae, the Willow Family
2. Salix L. -- Willow6. Salix eriocephala Michx. -- Diamond willow, Missouri willow
Shrub or small tree to 7 m tall; twigs gray-brown to dark brown, closely gray-pubescent, the pubescence often patchy; branchlets reddish-brown, gray-pubescent. Leaves dark green to yellowish-green above, pale to weakly glaucous beneath, glabrous on both sides or pubescent beneath, lanceolate to somewhat oblanceolate, acuminate at the tip, cuneate, rounded or cordate at the base, 3-8(12) cm long, 1-3(4) cm wide, finely serrate; petioles glandless, 3-15 mm long; stipules persistent on vigorous shoots, semicordate, ovate or reniform, to 12 mm long, glabrous, serrate. Catkins emerging with or prior to the leaves; female catkins 2-8 cm long, on short leafy or bracteate branchlets to 1.5 cm long; bracts persistent, brown to nearly black, pubescent; stamens 2. Capsules ovoid with a long neck, 4-7 mm long, glabrous; stipes 1-2 mm long. Flowering Apr--early May, fruiting May--early Jun. Shores, stream banks, floodplains, ditches and wet meadows, especially along major river courses; e, c and nw ND, ne MT, e SD and NE; (N.S. and s Que. to Sask. and MT, s to VA, MO and KS, also GA and AR). S. rigida Muhl. var. vestita Anderss., S. missouriensis Bebb, S. rigida Muhl. var rigida.
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