Leaves oblanceolate (lanceolate, or much longer than wide, but the widest part is toward the tip). Leaves slightly rolled under along margins, ~3-13 cm long and 1-2 cm wide, with a short petiole (leaf stalk). Mature leaves are dark green and glabrous (smooth-surfaced) on top and, underneath, glaucous (covered with a whitish dust or resin that comes off readily, as in blueberries and grapes). Young leaves are velvety and pubescent (hairy/downy), gradually becoming glabrous and glaucous. Deciduous. This species is dioecious, with male and female flowers segregated on different plants. They flower from February to April, just before the leaves come in, in the form of male catkins with yellow anthers (pollen-bearing structures on the stamens) and female catkins usually ~3-7 cm long. The fruit is a cluster of glabrous capsules ~0.5 cm long containing many tiny seeds. The plant itself is an erect and thicket-forming shrub or sometimes a small tree from 2-10 m tall, with smooth bark and thin yellowish to dark brown twigs, and it favors locations by streams, springs, or seeps, under 2800 m in elevation. It is found throughout California and the American West and northern Mexico.
Salix lasiolepis aka S. bakeri aka S. franciscana aka Salix lutea var. nivaria (Salicaceae): arroyo willow
The development of this key was partially funded through the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Program (Award #0703798) and through a course of re-assigned time provided by the CSULB Scholarly and Creative Activities Committee. Thanks also to the students in sections of biogeography, introductory physical geography, GDEP, and LSAMP for "test-driving" various editions of this key.