''Salix richardsonii'' is a species of flowering plant in the

Salicaceae The Salicaceae are the willow family of flowering plants. The traditional family (Salicaceae ''sensu stricto'') includes the willows, poplars. Genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) have greatly expanded the circumsc ...

, or willow family. It is known by the common names Richardson's willow and woolly willow. It is native to Russia''Salix richardsonii''.
Flora of North America. and northern North America, where it occurs in

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

and northern Canada.Esser, Lora L. 1992
''Salix richardsonii''.
In: Fire Effects Information System, nline U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory. Some authorities consider it to be a subspecies, '' Salix lanata'' subsp. ''richardsonii'' (Hook.) A. K. Skvortsov rather than a species itself. This

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

is a branching

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

which forms dense thickets that grow to about tall, but is known to reach . Along with '' S. pulchra'' and '' S. alaxensis'', it is the tallest willow in the

Arctic Archipelago The Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago lying to the north of the Canadian continental mainland, excluding Greenland (an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, which is, by itself, much larger ...

.G.W. Argus, C.L. McJannet and M.J. Dallwitz (1999 onwards)
''Salix richardsonii''.
Salicaceae of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 2 November 2000. The stems of this species have smooth, hairless bark, but the young twigs are very hairy. The wood becomes brittle as it ages. This species is

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

, with male and female reproductive structures on separate individuals. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a

catkin A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster (a spike), with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind- pollinated ( anemophilous) but sometimes insect-pollinated (as in '' Salix''). It contains many, usually unisexual flowers, arra ...

. The catkins appear before the leaves in the spring. The flowers of ''S. richardsonii'' are typically pollinated by bees. The seeds are viable for only a short period of time and

germinate Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an flowering plant, angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the sp ...

immediately upon contact with the moist substrate. Natural hybrids can be formed with other willows, such as ''S. barclayi'' and ''S. calcicola'', with the hybrid ''Salix calcicola'' × ''S. richardsonii'' reportedly found on

Southampton Island Southampton Island (Inuktitut: ''Shugliaq'') is a large island at the entrance to Hudson Bay at Foxe Basin. One of the larger members of the Arctic Archipelago, Southampton Island is part of the Kivalliq Region in Nunavut, Canada. The area of t ...

. This common willow can be found growing along streams and in other moist areas in the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

and above the timberline. It also grows in

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

forests and woodlands and areas that have recently burned. It grows on

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

s and other habitats that flood periodically. It grows on pingos and the open

tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

. This species stabilizes eroding streambanks, and it can easily colonize disturbed areas and bare sites where debris has been cleared. It is fire-tolerant, resprouting easily after much of its aboveground mass has been burned. This plant provides food for many animals, such as

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

caribou The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only represe ...

, and

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

s. The thickets provide cover, and beavers use the branches to build their

dams A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

. Thickets of the plant on streambanks allow the water to undercut the bank, providing overhangs for fish to hide under. Native Americans used parts of willows, including this species, for medicinal purposes,

basket weaving Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets ...

, to make weapons such as bows and arrows, and for building animal traps. The bark was boiled to make broth, which was used to treat sore throats and tuberculosis (see

Salicylic acid Salicylic acid is an organic compound with the formula HOC6H4COOH. A colorless (or white), bitter-tasting solid, it is a precursor to and a active metabolite, metabolite of acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin). It is a plant hormone, and has been lis ...

References

External links

Flora boreali-americana, or, the botany of the northern parts of British America, source of the image above
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4195464 richardsonii Plants described in 1838