Salix glauca L. var. callicarpaea (Trautv.) Argus
Beautiful willow.
Syst. Bot. Monogr. 52: 70. 1997.
Salix anamesa Schneid.
Salix atra Rydb.
Salix callicarpaea Trautv.
Salix cordifolia Pursh
Salix cordifolia subsp. callicarpaea (Trautv.) A. Love
Salix cordifolia var. callicarpaea (Trautv.) Fern.
Salix cordifolia var. eucycla Fern.
Salix cordifolia var. intonsa Fern.
Salix cordifolia var. macounii (Rydb.) Schneid.
Salix cordifolia var. tonsa Fern.
Salix glauca subsp. callicarpaea (Trautv.) Böcher
Salix glauca var. macounii (Rydb.) Boivin
Salix glauca var. stenolepis Polunin
Salix labradorica Rydb.
Salix macounii Rydb.
Salix rydbergii Heller
Salix vacciniformis Rydb.
Plants low shrubs, or mid shrubs, or tall shrubs; more than 15 cm high; 20–250 cm high; not colonial. Stems. Aerial stems erect, or decumbent. Branches yellow-brown, or red-brown; not glaucous; glabrous, or hairy, or glabrescent; villous; epidermis flaky. Branchlets red-brown; not glaucous; glabrous, or hairy, or glabrescent; villous; hairs sparse, or moderately dense, or very dense; hairs spreading. Bud scale inner membrane free but not separating from outer membrane. Stipules. Stipules present; leaf-like; apex acute, or acuminate. Petioles. Petioles 2–9 mm long; glandular dots at the base of the leaf absent; deeply concave in cross-section, but margins not covering the groove; hairy. Petioles adaxial surface pilose. Leaves. Juvenile leaves yellowish green; hairy; abaxial surface villous, or tomentose; hair sparse, or moderately dense, or very dense; hair white. Blades 1.7–6.3 cm long; 6–28 mm wide; length-width ratio 1.4–3.5; herbaceous, or leathery; elliptic (to broadly elliptic), or oblanceolate, or obovate; revolute, or flat; secondary veins flat on adaxial surface, protruding on abaxial surface; secondary veins arising along midrib; stomata only on abaxial surface. Blades adaxial surface shiny; glabrous, or hairy, or glabrescent; hairs pilose, or villous; hairs sparse; hairs white and translucent. Blades abaxial surface glabrous, or glabrescent, or hairy; glaucous; pilose, villous (rarely tomentose); hairs sparse, or moderately dense; hairs white, or translucent; hairs spreading; hairs straight, or wavy. Leaf bases acute, or obtuse, or attenuate. Leaf margins entire and glandular-dotted (rarely serrulate); with teeth per cm 1–3; with submarginal glands. Leaf margins with glandular hairs all around leaf. Leaf apices acute, or obtuse, or rounded.
Plants dioecious. Catkins. Catkins flowering with the opening of leaf buds; one to several catkins just below tip of previous year’s shoot. Male catkins. Male catkins densely flowered; 8–30 mm long; 5–12 mm wide; slender, or stout; peduncles 3–14 mm long; borne on a flowering branchlet; flowering branchlets 2–25 mm long. Female catkins. Female catkins densely flowered, or moderately densely flowered; 17–50 mm long; 7–15 mm wide; slender, or stout, or subglobose, or globose; peduncles 3–14 mm long; borne on a flowering branchlet; flowering branchlets 2–25 mm long. Floral bracts. Floral bracts tawny, or brown; widest at middle; 2–3 mm long; hairy all over; hairs sparse, or moderately dense; hairs wavy, or straight; entire. Stamens 2; filaments glabrous, or hairy at base only, or hairy on lower half. Anthers purple becoming yellow; ellipsoid, or stout-cylindrical; axis straight; 0.5–0.8 mm long. Male flowers. Male flowers abaxial nectaries one; adaxial nectaries one; adaxial nectaries slender-rod, or broad-rod, or ovate; adaxial nectaries 0.6–1.3 mm long; adaxial nectaries separate. Female flowers. Female flowers adaxial nectaries absent; unlobed; slender-rod, or broad-rod; 0.4–1.4 mm long; shorter than stipes, or equal to stipes, or longer than stipes. Stipes 0.3–1.3 mm long. Ovaries pear-shaped; ovary gradually tapering to style; hairy; ovary villous, or tomentose. Ovary hair dense, or moderately dense; white, or translucent; spreading, or appressed; wavy, or crinkled; flattened (sometimes refractive). Styles 0.7–1.4 mm long. Stigmas slender-cylindrical; lobes 0.36–0.48–0.72 mm long. Ovules 10–18. Fruit. Fruit 6–7.5 mm long; glabrescent.
Distribution. Northern hemisphere: Greenland, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Canada, Eurasia (Iceland). Canada: Lab., Man., Nfld., N.S., Ont., Que., N.W.T., Nunavut.
Ecology and habitat. A low shrub of protected habitats. Often prostrate on ground or rising espalier-like on the south-facing slope of a boulder. Typically growing on sand and cobbles among granitic boulders, on sandy alluvium, or on exposed eskers. Sometimes on scree slopes, in sphagnum bogs, empetrum heaths, or in snow beds.
Notes. Salix glauca var. callicarpaea is an erect shrub. Its leaves are glaucous abaxially and moderately to very densely hairy abaxially and sparsely hairy to glabrate adaxially; stipules are often present but not prominent, usually 0–4 mm long; catkins are densely flowered and borne on a leafy flowering branchlet. Floral bracts are pale or dark brown and the ovaries are densely hairy.
The taxonomy of S. glauca in the Arctic Islands and on Greenland has been confusing. Böcher (1952) noted two ecologically and morphologically different types of Salix glauca occurring in West Greenland. A smooth one corresponding to S. cordifolia var. callicarpaea and an hirsute one corresponding to S. cordifolia var. intonsa. Argus (1965) proposed that all Greenland material belonged to S. glauca var. callicarpaea (as the Eastern Phase of S. glauca). Böcher later recognized them as two subspecies, S. glauca var. callicarpaea (including var. intonsa) and S. glauca var. ? glauca, which he thought resembled the European S. glauca (Böcher et al. 1968). Skvortsov (1971) agreed with Argus that European S. glauca var. glauca did not occur on Greenland. He pointed out that it differed by usually shorter, broader, more obtuse leaves, adaxial leaf surface bare and even somewhat shiny; flowering branchlets as long as the catkins themselves (European plants are usually shorter); bracts often brownish; stamens with glabrous filaments are more common than in the European plants; and a more spreading growth form.
The voucher specimen (Thannheiser personal herbarium) on which the report of S. glauca var. callicarpaea from Victoria Island was based was revised by Argus to S. glauca var. acutifolia.
Hybrids
Salix arctica × glauca var. callicarpaea (Skvortsov 1971, Argus 1965, 1973, Bay 1992). In 1965 Argus wrote, ‘This hybrid is characterized by various combinations of the characteristics of S. arctica and S. glauca. The S. glauca characteristics include erect habit, leaves less oblanceolate and without the attenuate base of S. arctica, shorter petioles, bracts light-colored with shorter wavy trichomes [hairs], and a divided style. The S. arctica characteristics include prostrate habit, pruinose [glaucous] stems and buds, sparse branchlet-pubescence, dark-colored bracts with long, straight trichomes, leaves with long straight trichomes on the lower [abaxial] surface projecting in a ‘beard’ at the apex, capsules reddish with long stigmas, and dark colored anthers.’ Specimens identified as hybrids combine these characters in various ways. On Baffin Island the hybrid is difficult to recognize because there S. glauca and S. arctica so converge in their morphology that the recognition of intermediates is difficult.
Salix arctophila × glauca var. callicarpaea. This hybrid is reported to be common in East Greenland but absent from West Greenland (Böcher 1952). It is not known to occur in Canada.
Illustrations. • Habit. Salix glauca var. callicarpaea: habit. Photo taken at Iqaluit, Baffin Island, Nunavut by Susan Aiken, Aug. 1997. Voucher specimen: Susan Aiken and Cheryl McJannet 97042, CAN. • Habit. Salix glauca var. callicarpaea: habit. Photo taken at Iqaluit, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Aug. 1997. Voucher specimen: Susan Aiken and Cheryl McJannet 97010, CAN. • Habitat. Salix glauca var. callicarpaea: habitat. Photo taken at Iqaluit, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Aug. 1997. Voucher specimen: Susan Aiken and Cheryl McJannet 97042, CAN. • Habitat. Salix glauca var. callicarpaea: habitat. Photo taken at Iqaluit, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Aug. 1997. • Close-up of catkin and leaves. Salix glauca var. callicarpaea: close-up of catkin and leaves. Photo taken at Iqaluit, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Aug. 1997. Voucher specimen: Susan Aiken and Cheryl McJannet 97010, CAN. • Close-up of female catkin. Salix glauca var. callicarpaea: close-up of female catkin. Photo taken at Iqaluit, Baffin Island, Nunavut, by Susan Aiken, Aug. 1997. Voucher specimen: Susan Aiken and Cheryl McJannet 97010, CAN. • Close-up of female catkin and leaves. Salix glauca var. callicarpaea: close-up of female catkin and leaves. Photo taken at Iqaluit, Baffin Island, Nunavut, by Susan Aiken, Aug. 1997. Voucher specimen: Susan Aiken and Cheryl McJannet 97010, CAN. • Close-up of female catkins. Salix glauca var. callicarpaea. Photo taken in the Baffin Island, Iqaluit. Susan Aiken 97012. • Arctic Island Distribution.
Cite this publication as: G.W. Argus, C.L. McJannet and M.J. Dallwitz (1999 onwards). ‘Salicaceae of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval.’ Version: 2nd November 2000. http://http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/. Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1995, 2000) should also be cited (see References).
