''Salix richardsonii'' is a species of flowering plant in the

Salicaceae The Salicaceae is the willow family of flowering plants. The traditional family (Salicaceae ''sensu stricto'') included the willows, poplar, aspen, and cottonwoods. Genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) have greatly ...

, or willow family. It is known by the common names Richardson's willow and woolly willow. It is native to Russia''Salix richardsonii''.
Flora of North America. and northern North America, where it occurs in

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. ...

and northern Canada.Esser, Lora L. 1992
''Salix richardsonii''.
In: Fire Effects Information System, nline U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Some authorities consider it to be a subspecies, ''

Salix lanata ''Salix lanata'', the woolly willow, is a subarctic species of willow native to Iceland, the Faeroe Islands and Finland, through to eastern Siberia. In Scotland it can be found in only a few localities of Perthshire, Angus and Aberdeenshire, gene ...

'' subsp. ''richardsonii'' (Hook.) A. K. Skvortsov rather than a species itself. This

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 ...

is a branching shrub which forms dense thickets that grow to about tall, but is known to reach . Along with '' S. pulchra'' and '' S. alaxensis'', it is the tallest willow in the Arctic Archipelago.G.W. Argus, C.L. McJannet and M.J. Dallwitz (1999 onwards)
''Salix richardsonii''.
Salicaceae of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 2 November 2000. The stems of this species have smooth, hairless bark, but the young twigs are very hairy. The wood becomes brittle as it ages. This species is dioecious, with male and female reproductive structures on separate individuals. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

is a catkin. The catkins appear before the leaves in the spring. The flowers of ''S. richardsonii'' are typically pollinated by bees. The seeds are viable for only a short period of time and

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fer ...

immediately upon contact with the moist substrate. Natural hybrids can be formed with other willows, such as ''S. barclayi'' and ''S. calcicola'', with the hybrid ''Salix calcicola'' × ''S. richardsonii'' reportedly found on

Southampton Island Southampton Island (Inuktitut: ''Shugliaq'') is a large island at the entrance to Hudson Bay at Foxe Basin. One of the larger members of the Arctic Archipelago, Southampton Island is part of the Kivalliq Region in Nunavut, Canada. The area of th ...

. This common willow can be found growing along streams and in other moist areas in the

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

and above the timberline. It also grows in spruce forests and woodlands and areas that have recently burned. It grows on

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

s and other habitats that flood periodically. It grows on

pingo Pingos are intrapermafrost ice-cored hills, high and in diameter. They are typically conical in shape and grow and persist only in permafrost environments, such as the Arctic and subarctic. A pingo is a periglacial landform, which is defin ...

s and the open

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

. This species stabilizes eroding streambanks, and it can easily colonize disturbed areas and bare sites where debris has been cleared. It is fire-tolerant, resprouting easily after much of its aboveground mass has been burned. This plant provides food for many animals, such as

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

, caribou, and beavers. The thickets provide cover, and beavers use the branches to build their

dams A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

. Thickets of the plant on streambanks allow the water to undercut the bank, providing overhangs for fish to hide under. Native Americans used parts of willows, including this species, for medicinal purposes,

basket weaving Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets ...

, to make weapons such as bows and arrows, and for building animal traps. The bark was boiled to make broth, which was used to treat sore throats and tuberculosis (see Salicylic acid).

References

External links

Flora boreali-americana, or, the botany of the northern parts of British America, source of the image above
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4195464 richardsonii Plants described in 1838