Salix planifolia : Plane-leaved Willow

Scientific Name:

Kingdom: Plantae

Division:

• Tracheophyta (vascular)
• Spermatophyta (seed bearing)
Angiospermae (enclosed seed)

Class: Dicoteldonae (two seed-leaves)

Family: Salicaceae (Willow Family)

Genera: Salix (Willows) (Classic Latin name for willow)

Species: planifolia (Lat. planus= flat + folium= leaf, = flat-leaved)

Synonym(s): S.phylicifolia

English Name(s):

Plane-leaved Willow, Flat-leaf/ Diamond-leaf/ Tea-leaf/ Willow

First Nation Names:

K'aii

Structure:

• Much branched erect or spreading shrub.
• Becoming 1-3 m high.
• Branches dark brown or reddish brown, glabrescent (nearly hairless).
• Branchlets brownish to greenish brown, glossy.

Leaves:

• Alternate.
• Buds of all salix spp. (Willows) are covered by a single scale.
• Elliptic-laneolate, to oblong or rhombic in shape.
• 3.5-6.0cm long by 1.0-2.0cm wide.
• Acute at both ends.
• Mergins entire (smooth) or remotely dentate (toothed).
• Upper surface glabrous (hairless), dark green, lustrous.
• Lower surface glabrous (hairless), glaucous (blueish waxy).
• Petioles (stalks) short, stipules (leaf appendages) minute and soon falling.

Reproductive Parts:

• Flowers lacking a parianth(sepals + petals). Born in cylindrical catkins.
• Plants dioecious (uni-sexual).
• Catkins sessile (stalkless) appearing before leaves.
• Pistillate catkins (female) 1.5-6.0cm long, pistils 2.0-2.8mm long, densely sericeous (silky).
• Nectaries 1 equal or up to 3 times as long as stipes (stalks).
• Bracts oblong in shape, acute to rounded at tip, blackish, pubescent (hiary) with usually long hairs.
• Staminate catkins (male) 1.5-5cm long.

Seed:

• Fruit a dehiscent (splitting open) capsule containing numerous small seeds.
• Seed Capsules (mature pistils) 5-6mm long, tawny or greenish, sparsely sericeous (silky).

Not to Be Confused With:

• Many of the erect shrub Salix (Willow) species can be hard to distinguish from each other. Useing the Keys and especially the Character Chart Key on the Salicaceae (Willow Family) Page should help.
• Salix pulchra (Flat-leaf Willow) which can be distinguished best by its numerous marcescent (dried) leaves with remain on the shrub.

Physiology:

• Are insect pollenated. Both male and female flowers have nectaries to attract pollenating insects. Male pollen is also brightly coloured red or yellow to attract insects.
• Several types of galls can be seen on willows. These are deformations of plant tissue caused by the physical actions or chemical secretions of insects.
• Willow Roses are a type of gall that grows on some species of willow. It is caused by the larvae of Cecidomyia rosaria. The larvae through chemical secretions cause the leaves of the bud to grow in a rose petal like fashion.

Life Cycle:

• Perennial.

Seasonal Cycle:

• Leaves and catkins deciduous.
• Catkins appearing before the leaves.

Animal Uses:

• In spring and early summer the catkins and young leaves are eagerly eaten by many mammals and birds.
• Moose, caribou and deer all eat the twigs and young branches.
• The twigs and bark are eaten by hares and lemmings.
• Willow is an important food for bears and a secondary food for beavers.
• Willow is an important food for many animals.
• Winter buds are one of the principle winter foods of ptarmigan and grouse.

Habitat:

• Forming thickets in Carex (Sedge) fens, borders of streams and lakes, in Picea mariana (Black Spruce) muskegs, and in openings of Picea glauca (White spruce) woodland.

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