''Salix boothii'' is a species of
willow known by the common name Booth's willow.
[USDA: ''Salix boothii'']
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It is native to western North America from British Columbia and Alberta south to California and New Mexico.[ It grows in moist mountain habitat, such as riverbanks.
]
Description
''Salix boothii'' is a 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 ...
that can reach in height. It is larger and has more branches in well-drained soils, and takes a smaller, simpler form in saturated areas such as bog
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...
s.[US Forest Service Fire Ecology]
/ref> The leaves are lance-shaped to oval with a pointed tip and smooth-edged or lightly serrated. They are up to 10 cm long when mature with a shiny top surface; new leaves are covered in shaggy white hairs.[Jepson (TJM2): ''Salix boothii'']
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The inflorescences develop before the leaves grow, or simultaneously. Male 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 are up to about 4 cm long and female catkins are up to 7 cm. Male flowers have two stamen
The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10
Morphology and terminology
A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...
s. Its blooming period is May and June.Calflora Database: ''Salix boothii'' (Booth's willow)
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It reproduces sexually by seed and also vegetatively
Vegetative reproduction (also known as vegetative propagation, vegetative multiplication or cloning) is any form of asexual reproduction occurring in plants in which a new plant grows from a fragment or cutting of the parent plant or spec ...
by sprouting from its stem base and root system, allowing it to produce colonies of clones.[
]
Uses
This willow forms dense colonial thickets and it can be used for erosion control in riparian zone habitats in its native range.[ It is also tolerant of wildfire, resprouting relatively easily after aboveground parts have been burned away.][
]
References
External links
Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Salix boothii''Flora of North AmericaUC Photos gallery
boothii
Flora of the Northwestern United States
Flora of the Southwestern United States
Flora of Western Canada
Flora of California
Flora of New Mexico
{{Salicaceae-stub