''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 so ...

native to most of North America 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: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

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 capita ...

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 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 to the nor ...

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, ...

shrub reaching in height, exceptionally spreading by

basal shoot Basal shoots, root sprouts, adventitious shoots, and suckers are words for various kinds of shoots that grow from adventitious buds on the base of a tree or shrub, or from adventitious buds on its roots. Shoots that grow from buds on the base ...

s to form dense

clonal colonies A clonal colony or genet is a group of genetically identical individuals, such as plants, fungi, or bacteria, that have grown in a given location, all originating vegetatively, not sexually, from a single ancestor. In plants, an individual in s ...

. The leaves 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 catkins in late spring, after the leaves appear. It is dioecious, with

staminate 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 ...

and pistillate 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, which meet in the western Great Plains, 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 (Nor ...

’s 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 take an

infusion Infusion is the process of extracting chemical compounds or flavors from plant material in a solvent such as water, oil or alcohol, by allowing the material to remain suspended in the solvent over time (a process often called steeping). An in ...

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,

mourning cloak ''Nymphalis antiopa'', known as the mourning cloak in North America and the Camberwell beauty in Britain, is a large butterfly native to Eurasia and North America. The immature form of this species is sometimes known as the spiny elm caterpilla ...

, 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 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