Kingdom: Plantae – Plants

Phylum: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons

Family: Salicaceae – willow

Species: drummondiana

Common Name: Drummond’s willow

Species Code: SADR

Origin: Native to streamsides and other moist to wet places over much of western North America from Yukon Territory to California and east to Saskatchewan and New Mexico.

Rare: no

Form: dioecious shrub, deciduous, 1-4 m tall, twigs reddish to yellowish-brown, brittle at the base, glaucous and puberulent when young, becoming glabrous on older wood.

Duration: perennial

Longevity: medium to long

Habitat Type: riparian

Wetland Indicator Status: FACW

Leaves: alternate, short petiolate, lanceolate to elliptic or oblanceolate, 4-9 cm long and 1-3 cm wide, leaf margins usually entire but occasionally minutely serrate or shallowly crenate; blades densely white or rusty-hairy beneath, sparsely hairy to glabrate above; stipules narrow, leaf-like, somewhat revolute, caducous.

Mature height: 10-12 feet

Flowers: borne in unisexual aments (catkins), precocious to coetaneous, sessile or subsessile; scales black or dark brown, long-hairy; staminate catkins 2-3 cm long, stamens 2; pistillate catkins 2-6 cm long, ovary silky.

Flower color: green, yellow

Bloom: March, April

Fruit: capsule, densely short-hairy, nearly sessile, pyriform; seeds with a tuft of long hairs.

Characteristics:
Salix drummondiana Barratt ex Hook. is the accepted name, but it is sometimes incorrectly called S. drummondii.
S. drummondiana var. bella in St. John 1963, S. bella in Piper & Beattie 1914.
Salix is a difficult genus taxonomically because the plants are dioecious, vegetative and sometimes even floral characteristics are variable, multiple ploidy levels and aneuploidy may be present, and some species may even be apomictic (Hitchcock et al 1969).
2n=38,57,76 (Baldwin et al 2004)
Salix flowers are mostly insect pollinated but some wind pollination also occurs (Hitchcock et al 1969). Many different insect pollinators visit the flowers of Salix spp. (Mosquin 1971).
Plants are dioecious, but staminate plants are rare. Most seed is probably produced apomictically.
Diploids, triploids and tetraploids are known within the range of the species.
Fruit is a capsule.
Catkins are precocious or sometimes coetaneous.
Seeds are dispersed by wind and water.
Willows in general are browsed by livestock and big game animals and eaten by beaver. Thickets provide cover for birds and mammals. Some birds and small mammals feed on the leaves and buds.
Native peoples used various species of willows for basketry, mats, construction, tools, cordage, and medicine.
The poplar and willow borer, Cryptorhynchus lapathi, an introduced weevil from Eurasia, attacks many species of willow and poplar. Larva bore into the stems and weaken them, causing breakage or death (Broberg 2002, Broberg et al 2005).
Salix species are hosts for the larva of the persius duskywing (Erynnis persius), the western tiger swallowtail, (Papilo rutulus), the mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa), the green comma (Polygonia faunus), Lorquin’s admiral (Limentis lorquini), and the sylvan hairstreak (Satyrium titus) butterflies (Pocewicz 2005).
Cytospora canker is a disease caused by the fungus Cytospora chrysosperma. Symptoms are an orange liquid oozing from the stem, and orange colored dead bark (Jacobi 2006). Cankers usually appear in the upper portion of a shoot and move downward. Shoots under moisture stress are the most susceptible to infection. (Bloomberg 1962). Cytospora canker enters the stem through existing wounds to the bark. Willows (Salix spp.) and poplars (Populus spp.) are most susceptible.

Comments: Plant Guide from the USDA PLANTS Database

Sun requirement: full to partial sun

Soil moisture: wet

Precipitation: 16-40 inches (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2009).

Fire: The riparian habitat that Salix drummondiana inhabits is generally resistant to fire. When fires do burn through the habitat, Drummond’s willow will resprout from the roots. Some revegetation also occurs from seeds which are wind-borne and germinate readily on moist bare ground (Uchytil 1991).

Sowing time: spring

Transplant time: spring

Stratification: none

Seed harvest: April

Seed cleaning: difficult

Planting duration: long

Seed insect problem: none noted

Seed shatter: high

Seed size: very small

Seed harvest date: April

Seed comments: seed is windborne, seed is short-lived

Propagation:
1 protocol in the Native Plant Network
Glacier National Park, Montana

Other Propagation Information:
Willows root readily from hardwood cuttings and germinate easily from seed, but seed is short-lived. Seed propagated material is preferable for restoration planting because it maintains genetic diversity.
Reproduces sexually by seed. Vegetative reproduction is also common, as stems detached from the plant root readily in moist soil.
Rooted cuttings and seedlings are susceptible to rapid drops in the water table (Amlin & Rood 2002).

References:
Amlin, N.M. and S.B. Rood. 2002. Comparative tolerances of riparian willows and cottonwoods to water-table decline. Wetlands 22:338-346.

Argus, George W. 2004. A Guide to the Identification of Salix (willows) in Alaska, the Yukon Territory, and Adjacent Regions. Online at http://aknhp.uaa.alaska.edu/willow/pdfs/GuideSalixAK-YT11May05.pdf Accessed 12/10/06.

Bloomberg, W.J. 1962. Cytospora Canker of Poplars: Factors Influencing the Development of the Disease. Canadian Journal of Botany 40:1271-1280.

Broberg C.L., J.H. Borden, and L.M. Humble. 2002. Distribution and abundance of Cryptorhynchus lapathi on Salix spp. in British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 32(3):561-568.

Broberg, Cynthia L., John H. Borden, and Regine Gries. 2005. Olfactory and Feeding Preferences of Cryptorhynchus lapathi L. (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Among Hybrid Clones and Natural Poplars. Environmental Entomology 34:1606-1613.

Darris, Dale C., and Scott M. Lambert. 1993. Native Willow Varieties for the Pacific Northwest. Corvallis, OR: USDA, Soil Conservation Service, Corvallis Plant Materials Center.

Dawes, Denny. 2003. Using a Shop Vacuum to Clean Salicaceae Seeds. Native Plant Journal. 4(2):140.

Dreesen, David R. 2003. Propagation Protocol for Container Willows in the Southwestern US Using Seeds. Native Plant Journal. 4(2):118-124.

Dumroese, R. Kasten, David L Wenny, and Susan J. Morrison. 2003. Propagation Protocol for Container Willows and Poplars Using Mini-cuttings. Native Plant Journal 4(2):137-139.

Kepley, J.B., and W.R. Jacobi. 2000. Pathogenicity of Cytospora Fungi on Six Harwood Species. Journal of Arboriculture 26:326-332.

Heinze, Donald H. 1994. Willows of Montana. Riparian Tech. Bull. No 2. Billings, MT: US Dept. of the Interior, BLM Montana State Office.

Jacobi, W.R. 2006. Cytospora Canker. Colorado State University Extension bulletin No. 2.937. Online at http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/02937.html Accessed 10/12/06.

Landis, Thomas D., David R. Dreesen, R. Kasten Dumroese. 2003. Sex and the Single Salix: Considerations for Riparian Restoration. Native Plant Journal. 4(2):110-117.

Martens, Ellen, and James A. Young. 1992. Seed Germination Data for Yellow Willow at a Nevada Riparian Site. p 142-144 in: Proceedings &endash; Symposium on Ecology and Management of Riparian Shrub Communities. Ogden, UT: SDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. Gen. Tech Report INT-289.

Mather, Tim. 2003. Propagation Protocol for Bare Root Willows in Ontario. Native Plant Journal. 4(2):132-136.

McCreary, Douglas D. and Jerry Tecklin. 2000. Homemade Dibble Facilitates Planting Willow and Cottonwood Cuttings. Native Plants Journal 1(1):59-60.

Mosquin T. 1971. Competition for Pollinators as a Stimulus for the Evolution of Flowering Time. Oikos 22(3):398-402.

Stannard, Mark, and Haley Guenther. 1999. Rooting Characteristics of Black Cottonwood and Pacific Willow. Plant Materials Tech Note 29. Spokane, WA: USDA, NRCS.

Uchytil, Ronald J. 1991. Salix drummondiana. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/ [accessed 2009, January 29].

Visalli, Dana. 2006. The Wind and the Willows: Why the Genus Salix is Worth a Second Look. Douglasia 30(1):10-13.

Zasada, John C., D.A. Douglas, and W. Buechler. undated. Salix L. willow. In: Bonner, Franklin T., and Rebecca G. Nisley (eds.). Woody Plant Seed Manual. USDA Forest Service. Available online at http://www.nsl.fs.fed.us/wpsm/ Accessed 1/29/09.

Links:
Plant Profile from the USDA PLANTS Database
Species account from the Fire Effects Information System
Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium