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Salix candida Fluegge ex Willd.

Sage Willow

Modern name

Salix candida Flüggé ex Willd.

Synonyms

S. incana Michx., not Schrank

A shrub up to 5 or 6 ft high of stiff, erect habit, the young shoots covered with a close, white wool. Leaves linear to narrow-oblong, tapered at both ends, 112 to 412 in. long, 18 to 78 in. wide, upper surface wrinkled, at first white with down which afterwards falls away, leaving it dull green, lower surface permanently covered with a thick tomentum of fine, matted hairs, margins decurved, obscurely toothed or entire; stalk 18 to 12 in. long. Stipules small and deciduous, except sometimes on strong shoots. Catkins produced in April as the leaves unfold, cylindric, densely flowered, almost sessile; scales pale brown. Male catkins about 1 in. long; stamens with free, glabrous filaments and purplish red anthers; nectary one. Female catkins 112 to 212 in. long in fruit; ovary downy, conic-ovoid, shortly stalked; style elongate, slender, reddish or purplish.

Native of North America from Labrador to British Columbia, south to Philadelphia, Iowa and Colorado; introduced in 1811. This distinct and hardy species is worth growing for the vivid whiteness of its young leaves.


Genus

Salix

Other species in the genus