| Salix brachycarpa | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Salicaceae |
| Genus: | Salix |
| Species: | S. brachycarpa |
| Binomial name | |
| Salix brachycarpa | |
Salix brachycarpa is a species of flowering plant in the willow family known by the common names barren-ground willow, [1] [2] small-fruit willow [2] [3] [4] [5] and shortfruit willow. [6] [7]
The plant is native to North America, where it occurs throughout Alaska except for the Aleutian Islands and southeastern coastal region, in western and northern Canada, and in the contiguous United States in the Rocky Mountains south to Colorado, and the Sierra Nevada in California. [1]
It grows in several types of habitat. It grows in coniferous forests and alpine habitat types, near rivers and streams, in bogs, muskegs, swamps, and moraines. It is common on floodplains, where it grows with other willow species and various shrubs. It can also be found on serpentine barrens, salt marshes, and salt flats. It easily colonizes wet places recently cleared of vegetation, such as gravel bars. [1]
Salix brachycarpa is a shrub is low in stature or sometimes prostrate, growing up to 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) tall. The stems are sometimes hairy and the smaller branchlets may be quite woolly. The leaves are also usually hairy, with woolly undersides. The species is dioecious, with male and female reproductive parts occurring on separate plants. The inflorescence is a catkin up to 5 centimeters long. [1] [3] The plant produces tiny, downy seeds which are viable for just a few days but may germinate within 12 hours of hitting a suitable substrate. [1]
There are at least two recognized varieties of this species of willow:
A former subspecies, Salix brachycarpa subsp. niphoclada, is now synonymous with Salix niphoclada , another Alaskan willow species that is also commonly referred to as barren-ground willow. [4] [10] [11] Of note, barren-ground willow is also the common name of a third but distinct species of willow found in Alaska, Salix nummularia . [12]
On the Alaska North Slope, sites that supported this and other low-growing willow species before being disturbed for construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System were observed to have been recolonized by low-growing willows, including Salix brachycarpa, within four years after disturbance ceased. Natural regeneration of this and other low-growing willows was successful on moist riparian sites with silty soils, where they were mixed with the taller Alaska willow (Salix alaxensis), and on dry sites with fine-textured soils. [13]
This willow provides food for moose in interior Alaska, and it has been planted to restore moose habitat in the Alaska North Slope. [1] It is also planted in revegetation efforts and as a windbreak. [1]
S. brachycarpa is one of the few willows native to North America popularly in commercial cultivation. [14] The cultivar S. brachycarpa 'Blue Fox' is most popular, valued for its blue-gray foliage and low stature, reaching approximately 1 m in height.
Native Americans used parts of willows, including this species, for medicinal purposes, basket weaving, to make bows and arrows, and for building animal traps. [1]
Salix × fragilis, with the common names crack willow and brittle willow, is a hybrid species of willow native to Europe and Western Asia. It is native to riparian habitats, usually found growing beside rivers and streams, and in marshes and water meadow channels. It is a hybrid between Salix euxina and Salix alba, and is very variable, with forms linking both parents.
Salix arctica, the Arctic willow, is a tiny creeping willow. It is adapted to survive in Arctic conditions, specifically tundras.
Salix nigra, the black willow, is a species of willow native to eastern North America, from New Brunswick and southern Ontario west to Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and Texas.
Salix geyeriana is a species of willow known by the common names Geyer's willow, Geyer willow and silver willow. The type specimen was collected by the botanist Karl Andreas Geyer, for whom it was named. Its conspicuous, yellow flowers begin to bloom as early as March, to as late as the end of June.
Salix planifolia is a species of willow known by the common names planeleaf willow, diamondleaf willow, and tea-leafed willow. It is native to northern and western North America, including most of Canada and the western United States. It grows in many types of arctic and alpine habitats in the north, and mountainous areas in the southern part of its range.
Hedysarum alpinum is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name alpine sweetvetch. It is called masu in the Iñupiaq language. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring throughout the northern latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. In North America it is widespread in Canada and the northernmost United States, including Alaska.
Carex bigelowii is a species of sedge known by the common names Bigelow's sedge, Gwanmo sedge, and stiff sedge. It has an Arctic–alpine distribution in Eurasia and North America, and grows up to 50 centimetres (20 in) tall in a variety of habitats.
Salix alaxensis is a species of flowering plant in the willow family known by the common names Alaska willow and feltleaf willow. It is native to northern North America, where it occurs throughout Alaska and northwestern Canada.
Salix arbusculoides is a species of flowering plant in the willow family known by the common name little tree willow. It is native to northern North America, where its distribution extends across Alaska and most of Canada.
Salix fuscescens is a species of flowering plant in the willow family known by the common name Alaska bog willow. It is native to northern North America, where it occurs throughout much of Alaska and across northern Canada. It is also present in Eurasia.
Salix glauca is a species of flowering plant in the willow family known by the common names gray willow, grayleaf willow, white willow, and glaucous willow. It is native to North America, where it occurs throughout much of Alaska, northern and western Canada, and the contiguous United States south through the Rocky Mountains to northern New Mexico. It can also be found in Greenland, northwestern Europe, and Siberia.
Salix hastata is a species of flowering plant in the willow family, known by the common name halberd willow. It has an almost circumpolar distribution, occurring throughout the northern latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, most frequently found near the coast of the Arctic Ocean. In Alaska, it occurs in the north and in the central mountains. It also occurs in northwestern Canada, and in Norway and Russia, as well as various alpine or mountainous areas of Eurasia.
Salix monticola is a species of flowering plant in the willow family known by the common names mountain willow, cherry willow, serviceberry willow, and park willow. It is native to the United States, where it occurs in the Rocky Mountains region from Wyoming to Arizona and New Mexico. It also occurs in Alaska and parts of Canada.
Salix myrtillifolia is a species of flowering plant in the willow family known by the common name blueberry willow. It is native to northern North America, where it occurs in Alaska and much of Canada.
Salix pulchra is a species of flowering plant in the willow family, known by the common names diamondleaf willow, tealeaf willow, and thin red willow. It is native to northern North America, where it occurs in Alaska, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. The species is also found in northern British Columbia, and occurs in Russia.
Salix richardsonii is a species of flowering plant in the Salicaceae, or willow family. It is known by the common names Richardson's willow and woolly willow. It is native to Russia and northern North America, where it occurs in Alaska and northern Canada. Some authorities consider it to be a subspecies, Salix lanata subsp. richardsonii(Hook.) A. K. Skvortsov rather than a species itself.
Pyrola grandiflora (pronunciation , commonly known as Arctic wintergreen or largeflowered wintergreen, is a hardy perennial evergreen subshrub in the family Ericaceae. It is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere from temperate to tundra-like climates.
Salix jejuna, the barrens willow, is a tiny willow restricted to a 30 km stretch of coastal barren lands of the Strait of Belle Isle on the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. It was first found in Labrador by Archibald Gowanlock Huntsman in 1923 and then by Merritt Lyndon Fernald, Karl McKay Wiegand, and Long in 1925. It grows in highly restricted limestone barrens where limestone crevices are found among thin soils that conceal fields of fissured limestone. It is characterized by small rounded leaves on short petioles growing close to the stems. The plant's growth architecture is twiggy flat mats that sprawl over the surface. Mats can extend to 30 cm in a couple of years. It flowers in late June to mid-July. Barrens willow's low-growing habit and spreading form allows it to take advantage of the sun-heated soil boundary and persist in harsh conditions including wind, wind-entrained ice, and soil frost heaving. Like all willows, it is a pioneer species.
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