''Salix exigua'' (sandbar willow, narrowleaf willow, or coyote willow; syn. ''S. argophylla, S. hindsiana, S. interior, S. linearifolia, S. luteosericea, S. malacophylla, S. nevadensis,'' and '' S. parishiana'') is a species of

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

native to most of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

except for the southeast and far north, occurring from

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

east to

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, and south to northern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It is considered a threatened species in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

while in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, and

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

it is considered endangered.

Description

It is a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

reaching in height, exceptionally spreading by basal shoots to form dense clonal colonies. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are narrow lanceolate, long and broad, green, to grayish with silky white hairs at least when young; the margin is entire or with a few irregular, widely spaced small teeth. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are produced in

catkin A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster (a spike), with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated (anemophilous) but sometimes insect-pollinated (as in ''Salix''). They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged cl ...

s in late spring, after the leaves appear. It is

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, with staminate and

pistil Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

late catkins on separate plants, the male catkins up to long, the female catkins up to long. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is a cluster of capsules, each containing numerous minute

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s embedded in shiny white silk.Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
''Salix exigua''

Subspecies and Variants

The two

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

, which meet in the western

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

, are: *''S. exigua'' subsp. ''exigua'' – western North America, leaves grayish all summer with persistent silky hairs, seed capsules long *''S. exigua'' subsp. ''interior'' (Rowlee) Cronq. (syn. ''S. interior'' Rowlee) – eastern and central North America, leaves usually lose hairs and become green by summer, only rarely remaining pubescent, seed capsules long In California and Oregon, *''S. exigua'' var. ''hindsiana'' – Hinds' willow

Cultivation

''Salix exigua'' is cultivated as an ornamental tree. In the UK it has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

’s

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

Uses

This willow has many uses for Native Americans; the branches are used as flexible poles and building materials, the smaller twigs are used to make baskets, the bark is made into cord and string, and the bark and leaves have several medicinal uses. The

Zuni people The Zuni ( zun, A:shiwi; formerly spelled ''Zuñi'') are Native American Pueblo peoples native to the Zuni River valley. The Zuni are a Federally recognized tribe and most live in the Pueblo of Zuni on the Zuni River, a tributary of the Lit ...

take an infusion of the bark for coughs and sore throats. The foliage is browsed by livestock.

Ecology

The male flowers provide pollen for bees. It is a larval host to the California hairstreak,

Lorquin's admiral Lorquin's admiral (''Limenitis lorquini'') is a butterfly in the Nymphalinae subfamily. The butterfly is named after Pierre Joseph Michel Lorquin, a French naturalist who came to California from France during the Gold Rush, and made important dis ...

, mourning cloak, sylvan hairstreak, and tiger swallowtail.The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.

References

External links

* * Dominguez M. Collet (2004)
Willows of Interior Alaska
US Fish and Wildlife Service * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2060469

exigua ''Exigua'' (synonym: ''Brassicicephalus'') is an extinct genus from a well-known class of fossil marine arthropods, the trilobites. It lived from 501 to 497 million years ago during the Dresbachian faunal stage of the late Cambrian Period. Exigu ...

Fiber plants Flora of Western Canada Flora of Alaska Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of California Flora of Northwestern Mexico Flora of the United States Flora of the North-Central United States Flora of the Northeastern United States Flora of the Southeastern United States Flora of the Appalachian Mountains Flora of the Cascade Range Flora of the Klamath Mountains Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Flora of the Rocky Mountains Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Great Basin Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Flora of Kansas Flora of New Mexico Flora of Texas Flora of the Rio Grande valleys Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Natural history of the Mojave Desert Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Endangered flora of the United States Taxa named by Thomas Nuttall Flora without expected TNC conservation status