Salix exigua

 Salix exigua (sandbar willow, coyote willow) (sauce coyote)

Salicaceae

  • Sandbar willow is easily distinguished by long, thin, grayish leaves with silky hairs usually well bellow 15-20 feet. Other names for this species include narrow-leaved willow and coyote willow. The latter name derives from the fact that the shade cast by the shrubby growth provides a favored site for coyote dens. These is a common willow at lower desert elevations. Willows lose their leaves during winter months. While it may seem strange to have such moisture-loving species in the desert, the presence of a relatively permanent flow or groundwater pool of available freshwater provides conditions well suited for growth. So long as water is available, high summer temperatures present little or no threat. "California Desert Plants, Philip W Runder, Robert J Gustafson, Michael E Kauffmann."
  • Shrub 2-4 m. tall; twigs pruinose to silky-tomentose; leaves without stipules, the blades tapering to a short petiole, 5-12 cm. long, linear to linear-lanceolate, remotely denticulate, canescent to silky-pubescent on both surfaces, becoming glabrate in age; staminate catkins on long peduncles 2-4 cm. long, the stamens 2, the filaments free, pubescent; pistillate catkins 3-6 cm. long, on leafy peduncles, the scales lanceolate, acute, white-pilose, the stigma sessile; capsules subsessile to short-pediceled, ovoid attenuate,, glabrous to sericeous and becoming glabrous. Stream banks and swamps; Great Basin slopes, San Joaquin Valley to southern California; western North America. "A Flora of the Marshes of California. Herbert L. Mason".

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