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Salix humboldtiana
Credits
Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton
Recommended citation
'Salix humboldtiana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Other taxa in genus
- Salix aegyptiaca
- Salix alba
- Salix amygdaloides
- Salix arbuscula
- Salix arbutifolia
- Salix arctica
- Salix aurita
- Salix babylonica
- Salix bockii
- Salix 'Boydii'
- Salix caesia
- Salix × calodendron
- Salix candida
- Salix caprea
- Salix cinerea
- Salix cordata
- Salix daphnoides
- Salix × dasyclados
- Salix discolor
- Salix elaeagnos
- Salix exigua
- Salix fargesii
- Salix fragilis
- Salix glabra
- Salix glaucosericea
- Salix gracilistyla
- Salix hastata
- Salix herbacea
- Salix hookeriana
- Salix irrorata
- Salix japonica
- Salix jessoensis
- Salix lanata
- Salix lapponum
- Salix lasiandra
- Salix lindleyana
- Salix lucida
- Salix magnifica
- Salix matsudana
- Salix × meyeriana
- Salix × mollissima
- Salix moupinensis
- Salix myrsinifolia
- Salix myrsinites
- Salix myrtilloides
- Salix nakamurana
- Salix nigra
- Salix nigricans
- Salix nipponica
- Salix pentandra
- Salix petiolaris
- Salix phylicifolia
- Salix purpurea
- Salix pyrenaica
- Salix pyrifolia
- Salix repens
- Salix reticulata
- Salix retusa
- Salix rigida
- Salix × rubra
- Salix sachalinensis
- Salix scouleriana
- Salix × sepulcralis
- Salix sericea
- Salix silesiaca
- Salix × smithiana
- Salix starkeana
- Salix × subalpina
- Salix triandra
- Salix triandra
- Salix uva-ursi
- Salix viminalis
- Salix wilhelmsiana
Tree to 18 m, 0.2–0.8 m dbh; of upright, almost fastigiate habit, but when in leaf the crown becomes pendulous. Bark greyish, thick and deeply furrowed. Branchlets slender, ribbed and grey. Leaves deciduous, 3–10(–15) × 0.5–1.5 cm, linear-lanceolate, vivid green to silver and glabrous on both surfaces, lateral veins indistinct, margins serrate, apex acuminate; petiole 0.1–0.15 cm long, slightly pubescent; stipules absent, or small and caducous. Inflorescences coetaneous, pendulous, borne on leafy axillary branchlets 5–7 cm long. Staminate catkins 3–10 0.6–1 cm, bracts tawny, stamens five to eight per flower. Pistillate catkins shorter. Capsule brown, 0.4–0.5 cm long. Flowering September to November, fruiting October to December (Chile). Rodríguez R. et al. 1983, Newsholme 1992. Distribution ARGENTINA; BOLIVIA; BRAZIL; CHILE; COLOMBIA; COSTA RICA; ECUADOR; EL SALVADOR; GUATEMALA; HONDURAS; MEXICO; NICARAGUA; PANAMA; PERU. Naturalised across the Caribbean and in Australia. Habitat Wetlands by rivers, lakes and estuaries, between 0 and 600 m asl. USDA Hardiness Zone 9–10. Conservation status Not evaluated. Illustration Rodríguez R. et al. 1983; NT769. Taxonomic note Newsholme (1992) maintains S. chilensis as distinct from S. humboldtiana, though he suggests that it may be a hybrid, with S. humboldtiana and the European S. alba (introduced into Argentina in the early-twentieth century) as the parents.
Salix humboldtiana is bluntly described by Newsholme (1992) as ‘rather coarse, without any special ornamental quality’, and he says that it is very susceptible to frost. It is regarded as an invasive weed in Australia and in parts of the Caribbean (Global Compendium of Weeds 2007). With all this encouragement it is improbable that it would be widely planted even if material became available. It is however well established at Benmore, from a collection made in Chile (Región X) in 1997 by M. Gardner and A. Newton (no. 46). The denigrated Australian weed is apparently principally a fastigiate male clone, ‘Pyramidalis’, spreading vegetatively (Weeds Australia 2008).