Alternate name: Shining Willow

Family: Salicaceae, Willow view all from this family

Description Tree with open, irregular crown; sometimes a thicket-forming shrub.
Height: 20-50' (6-15 m).
Diameter: 2' (0.6 m).
Leaves: 2-5" (5-13 cm) long, 1/2-1" (1.2-2.5 cm) wide. Narrowly lance-shaped, very long-pointed, mostly rounded at base; finely saw-toothed, becoming almost hairless; leafstalks slender, with glands at upper end. Shiny green above, whitish beneath.
Bark: gray or dark brown; becoming rough and deeply furrowed into flat, scaly ridges.
Twigs: shiny reddish to brownish or yellow, hairless.
Flowers: catkins 1 1/2-4" (4-10 cm) long; with hairy, yellow or brown scales; at ends of leafy twigs; with leaves in spring.
Fruit: 1/4" (6 mm) long; light reddish-brown, hairless capsules; maturing in early summer.

Habitat Wet soils along streams, lakes, and roadsides; in valleys and on mountains.

Range Central and SE. Alaska east to Saskatchewan and south mostly in mountains to S. New Mexico and S. California; to 8000' (2438 m).

Discussion As the common name suggests, Pacific Willow is familiar along riverbanks and valleys through the Pacific states.