Alternate name: Coyote Willow

Family: Salicaceae, Willow view all from this family

Description Thicket-forming shrub with clustered stems or rarely a tree, with very narrow leaves.
Height: 3-10' (1-3 m), sometimes to 20' (6 m).
Diameter: 5" (13 cm).
Leaves: 1 1/2-4" (4-10 cm) long, 1/4" (6 mm) wide. Linear, very long-pointed at ends; few tiny, scattered teeth or none; varying from hairless to densely hairy with pressed, silky hairs; almost stalkless. Yellow-green to gray-green on both surfaces.
Bark: gray, smooth or becoming fissured.
Twigs: reddish- or yellowish-brown; slender, upright, hairless or with gray hairs.
Flowers: catkins 1-2 1/2" (2.5-6 cm) long; with hairy yellow scales; at end of leafy twigs; in spring.
Fruit: 1/4" (6 mm) long; light brown capsules, usually hairy; maturing in early summer.

Habitat Wet soils, especially riverbanks, sandbars, and silt flats.

Range C. Alaska east to Ontario and New York, southwest to Mississippi, and west to s. California; also local east to Quebec and Virginia and in n. Mexico; to 8000' (2438 m).

Discussion This hardy species has perhaps the greatest range of all tree willows: from the Yukon River in central Alaska to the Mississippi River in southern Louisiana. A common and characteristic shrub along streams throughout the interior, especially the Great Plains and Southwest, it is drought-resistant and suitable for planting on stream bottoms to prevent surface erosion. Livestock browse the foliage; Indians made baskets from the twigs and bark.