Salix × conifera

Shrub or small tree to 8 m tall, trunk diameter to 30 cm Leaves: alternate, on 1 - 2.5 cm long leafstalks, bright green above, silvery or white-waxy and bluish green beneath, 5 - 12 cm long, 1.5 - 3.5 cm wide, lance-shaped to narrowly elliptic with a rounded to tapering base and pointed tip, irregularly wavy-toothed, thick, firm, and sometimes rusty-hairy beneath. Flowers: either male or female, borne on separate trees (dioecious) in hairy, cylindrical catkins. Female catkin loosely flowered, greenish with dark brown scales, smaller than <i>Salix discolor</i> (1.5 - 3 cm long). Ovary hairy. Male catkin fuzzy, white or silvery with dark brown scales, smaller than <i>S. discolor</i> (2 - 4 cm long). Stamens two, with yellow anthers. Fruit: a capsule, in elongated clusters, light brown, smaller than <i>Salix discolor</i> (8 - 12 mm long), flask-shaped, and finely hairy. Seeds have long, white, silky hairs attached. Bark: light brown to gray, tinged with red, thin, shallowly fissured, and scaly. Twigs: stout, upright, brown to dark reddish purple, and hairy. Buds: dark reddish purple, 7 - 9 mm long, egg-shaped, flattened, long-pointed, and shiny. Form: open and rounded.

Similar species: In the Chicago Region, Salix x conifera differs from most other willows by having leaf margins that are not distinctly toothed or revolute (rolled downward). Salix bebbiana is similar but has gray-hairy leaves. Salix discolor, a parent of S. x conifera, has relatively larger catkins and fruit. It also bears twigs and leaves that do not remain hairy into maturity. The other parent of S. x conifera, S. humilis, is a much smaller shrub that exhibits revolute leaf margins.

Flowering: April to early May, before the leaves

Habitat and ecology: In the Chicago Region, Salix x conifera is common in the marshy and swampy ground of shrub-dominated communities, bottomland woods, and moist prairies. Occurs along lakes, streams, roads, and railroads. May also be found in ditches, fens, bogs, and sandy areas.

Occurence in the Chicago region: native

Etymology: Salix is the Latin word for willow. Conifera means "cone-bearing."

Author: The Morton Arboretum