Salix myrtillifolia : Myrtle-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: myrtillifolia

English Name(s):

Myrtle-leaved Willow, Blueberry Willow

First Nation Names:

K'aii

Structure:

• Low shrub to 90cm tall but generally much lower, often decumbent and rooting along stem.
• Branchlets greenish brown to dark reddish brown, glabrescent (mostly hairless).

Leaves:

• Alternate.
• Buds of all salix spp. (Willows) are covered by a single scale.
• Mature leaves lanceolate in shape.
• Margins finely crenate-dentate
• Upper surface green and lustrous, lower surface slightly paler.
• Leaves of sterile shoots much larger and often with well formed stipules (leaflets).

Reproductive Parts:

• Flowers lacking a parianth(sepals + petals). Born in cylindrical catkins.
• Plants dioecious (uni-sexual).
• Catkins on leafy branchlets appearing with the leaves.
• Pistillate catkins (female) 2-4cm long.
• Styles less than 1mm long.
• Pedicels (stalks) 0.6-1.6mm long.
• Nectaries less than half as long as the stipes (stalks).
• Bracts usually bicolour, glabrous (hairless)to sparingly pubescent (hairy).
• Staminate catkins (male) very sweetly scented.

Seed:

• Fruit a dehiscent (splitting open) capsule containing numerous small seeds.
• Seed capsules (mature pistils) glabrous (hairless), pale yellowish green.

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 speudomyrsinites (Tall Blueberry Willow) which used to be a subspecies of this one and can be distinguished by its taller stature and longer stipules (leaf appendages) and styles.

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 appear with 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:

• Dap mossy woodland fens, muskegs, wet stream banks, and lake shores.

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