Salix arbuscula L. emend. Sm.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Salix arbuscula' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/salix/salix-arbuscula/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Genus

Synonyms

  • S. arbuscula var. γ L.
  • S. formosa Willd.

Glossary

ovary
Lowest part of the carpel containing the ovules; later developing into the fruit.
acute
Sharply pointed.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
appressed
Lying flat against an object.
crenate
With rounded teeth at the edge.
cuneate
Wedge-shaped.
entire
With an unbroken margin.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glandular
Bearing glands.
glaucous
Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).
included
(botanical) Contained within another part or organ.
lanceolate
Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
lustrous
Smooth and shiny.
obtuse
Blunt.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
petiole
Leaf stalk.
reticulate
Arranged in a net-like manner.
serrate
With saw-like teeth at edge. serrulate Minutely serrate.
sessile
Lacking a stem or stalk.
style
Generally an elongated structure arising from the ovary bearing the stigma at its tip.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Salix arbuscula' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/salix/salix-arbuscula/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

A dwarf shrub with spreading or ascending branches, rarely more than 2 ft high; mature shoots glossy and dark brown, glabrous, but the young shoots sometimes downy. Leaves ovate or elliptic, mostly 12 to 34 in. long, acute or obtuse at the apex, cuneate to rounded at the base, glabrous, lustrous and sometimes reticulate above, green or somewhat glaucous and sometimes appressed-hairy beneath, margins glandular-serrate or almost entire; petiole up to 18 in. long. Stipules minute or wanting. Catkins appearing with the leaves, 12 in. or less long, on short leafy peduncles; scales obtuse, clad with white hairs. Stamens with free, glabrous filaments, anthers yellow or tinged with red. Ovary sessile or shortly stalked, downy, style well-developed with two short, slender, notched or entire stigmas.

Native of Scotland, where it is confined to a few localities in the mountains of Argyll and Perthshire, but with its main distribution in Scandinavia and N. Russia. It is of no ornamental value, and mentioned here only because it is of interest as a rare British native.

The following species are closely allied to S. arbuscula and were once included in it:

S. foetida Schleich. ex Lam. S. arbuscula subsp. foetida (Schleich.) Braun-Blanquet; ?S. arbuscula var. humilis Anderss. – Leaves elliptic-lanceolate, up to 2 in. long, sharply serrated, the teeth tipped with large yellowish glands. Catkins relatively thicker than in S. arbuscula, about twice as long as wide. Native of the Alps from France to the High Tauern, mainly on acid soils. It grows up to 6 ft high at low altitudes, becoming dwarf near the tree-line.

S. waldsteiniana Willd. S. arbuscula var. waldsteiniana (Willd.) Koch; S. a. subsp. waldsteiniana (Willd.) Braun-Blanquet; S. a. var. erecta Anderss. – This is more distinct from S. arbuscula than is S. foetida. Leaves obovate to elliptic, 34 to 212 in. long, cuneate at the base, margins crenate-serrate, the teeth not glandular, or entire. Catkins with distinct peduncles, three to four times as long as wide. Native of the E. Alps, N. Balkans and Carpathians, on limestone formations. A medium-sized shrub.