Salix vestita Pursh
Rock willow.
Fl. Amer. Sept. 2: 610. 1814
Salix leiolepis Fernald
Salix vestita var. leiolepis (Fernald) Argus
Salix vestita var. erecta Andersson
Salix vestita var. psilophylla Fernald & H. St. John
Plants low shrubs, or mid shrubs; less than 15 cm high; 2–15 cm high; not colonial. Stems. Aerial stems erect. Branches red-brown, or brownish; not glaucous; hairy, or glabrous, or glabrescent; villous, or with long-silky hairs; epidermis not flaky. Branchlets yellow-brown, or gray-brown; not glaucous; hairy; villous; hairs sparse, or moderately dense; hairs spreading. Bud scale inner membrane free but not separating from outer membrane. Leaves alternate. Stipules. Stipules present; scale-like. Petioles. Petioles 2–8 mm long; glandular dots at the base of the leaf present (sometimes dark), or glandular dots at the base of the leaf absent; shallowly concave in cross-section, or deeply concave in cross-section, but margins not covering the groove; hairy, or glabrous, or glabrescent. Petioles adaxial surface puberulent. Leaves. Juvenile leaves yellowish green; hairy; abaxial surface hairs long-silky; hair very dense; hair white, or gray. Blades 1.8–6.7 cm long; 10–40 mm wide; length-width ratio 1.1–2.3; leathery; elliptic (broadly ellpitic), or circular, or obovate; revolute; secondary veins impressed into adaxial surface, protruding on abaxial surface (strongly impressed); secondary veins arising along midrib; stomata only on abaxial surface. Blades adaxial surface shiny; glabrous, or hairy; hairs long-silky; hairs sparse; hairs white and translucent. Blades abaxial surface hairy; glaucous; villous, hairs long-silky; hairs moderately dense, or very dense, or sparse; hairs white, or translucent; hairs appressed, or spreading; hairs straight. Leaf bases obtuse, or rounded (sometimes truncate to subcordate). Leaf margins entire and crenate (to subentire); with teeth all around leaf; with teeth per cm 3–12; with marginal glands. Leaf apices rounded, or retuse.
Plants dioecious. Catkins. Catkins flowering with the opening of leaf buds; catkins terminal on previous year’s shoot. Male catkins. Male catkins densely flowered; 10–30(–42) mm long; 4–6.5(–8) mm wide; slender, or stout; peduncles 3–8 mm long; borne on a flowering branchlet (terminating normal vegetative shoots); flowering branchlets 3–31 mm long. Female catkins. Female catkins densely flowered; 10–53 mm long; 4–10 mm wide; slender, or stout; peduncles 4–12 mm long; borne on a flowering branchlet (terminating normal vegetative shoots); flowering branchlets 3–27 mm long. Floral bracts. Floral bracts tawny; widest at middle, or widest toward tip; 0.8–1.6 mm long; hairy all over; hairs very dense; hairs straight; entire. Stamens 2; filaments hairy on lower half. Anthers purple becoming yellow; ellipsoid, or subglobose; axis straight; 0.3–0.5 mm long. Male flowers. Male flowers abaxial nectaries one; adaxial nectaries one; adaxial nectaries slender-rod; adaxial nectaries 0.5–1.2 mm long; adaxial nectaries separate, or cup-shaped. Female flowers. Female flowers adaxial nectaries one; unlobed; slender-rod, or broad-rod, or ovate (almost filiform); 0.7–1.4 mm long; shorter than stipes, or equal to stipes, or longer than stipes; nectaries separate, or partially connected (cup-shaped). Stipes 0.4–1.2 mm long. Ovaries pear-shaped, or inverse turnip-shaped; ovary abruptly tapering to style; hairy; ovary hairs short-silky. Ovary hair dense; white, or translucent; appressed, or spreading; straight, or wavy; cylindrical. Styles partially fused (almost free to base). Styles 0.2–0.4 mm long. Stigmas broad-cylindrical; lobes 0.2–0.36 mm long. Ovules 12–14. Fruit. Fruit 3–5 mm long; hairy.
Chromosome inforamtion. 2n = 38. Dorn 1975, Hedberg 1967, Löve & Löve 1975, 1982, Taylor and Brockman 1966. Ploidy levels recorded 2x.
Distribution. Amphi-Beringian. Low arctic. Range in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago limited. Northern hemisphere: Canada, United States, Eurasia. Canada: Alta., B.C., Lab., Man., Nfld., N.W.T. (Frank.) (old), N.S., Ont., Que., Nunavut. USA: Mont., Oreg., Wash. (?). Arctic Islands: Akpatok I.
Ecology and habitat. In reporting this species from the Arctic Archipelago Polunin (1940) writes, "Rare even on Akpatok [Island], where is occurs in shletered valleys that have a good snow-covering in winter, growing best in damp "late-snow" depressions, but even then remaining more or less prostrate.".
Notes. Salix vestita is an erect, shrubby relative of S. reticulata. Its leaves and branchlets, however, are distinctly and permanently long-silky.
This species occurs in our area only on Akpatok Island in Ungava Bay. The only known collections (in The British Museum) were made there by Nicholas Polunin in about 1933 (Polunin 1934).
Illustrations. • 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).
