Plant species: Salix prolixa, Mackenzie willow
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Phylum: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Family: Salicaceae -- Willow family
Genus: Salix
Species: prolixa
Variety:
Common Name: Mackenzie willow
Species Code: SAPR3, SAMA16, SARIM3, SARIM4
Origin: Native to streambanks and wet places of western North America from southern Alaska to California and east to Saskatchewan, Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada.
Rare: no
Form: dioecious shrub or sometimes a small tree, deciduous, 2-5 m tall; twigs long and slender, reddish brown, glabrous or soon glabrate, branches erect, older bark gray.
Duration: perennial
Longevity:
Habitat Type: riparian, wetland
Wetland Indicator Status: not listed
Leaves: alternate, short petiolate; stipules generally small and inconspicuous, leaf-like, usually deciduous; blades lanceolate to elliptic or ovate, 5-15 cm long and 1-5 cm wide, finely toothed to entire, glabrous, glaucous beneath, tips acuminate or acute.
Mature height:
Flowers: borne in unisexual aments (catkins), precocious to coetaneous, scales brown to almost black, persistent; staminate catkins 2-5 cm long, stamens 2; pistillate catkins 3-6 cm long, styles 0.3-1 mm long, ovary glabrous.
Flowers color:
Bloom: mid-May
Bloom starts on:
Bloom ends on:
Fruit: capsule, glabrous, 3-7 mm long, lanceoloid; seeds with a tuft of long hairs.
Vegetation type:
Characteristics:
Salix rigida ssp. mackenzieana, Salix rigida var. mackenzieana, and Salix mackenzieana are synonymous.
S. cordata in Piper & Beattie 1914.
S. mackenzieana in St. John 1963 and in Davis 1952.
S. rigida var. mackenzieana in Hitchcock & Cronquist 1973.
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).
Reproduces sexually by seed. Vegetative reproduction is also common, as stems detached from the plant root readily in moist soil.
2,500,000 seeds/lb (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2007).
Salix flowers are mostly insect pollinated but some wind pollination also occurs (Hitchcock et al 1969).
Many different pollinators visit the flowers of Salix spp. (Mosquin 1971).
Plants are dioecious and xenogamous.
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.
Fruit is a capsule.
Catkins are precocious to coetaneous.
Seeds are dispersed by wind and water.
The poplar and willow borer, Cryptorhynchus lapathi, an introduced weevil from Eurasia, attacks many species of willow and poplar.
Larvae bore into the stems and weaken them, causing breakage or death (Broberg 1999, 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).
The pathogen tends to infect plants which are stressed (Kepley & Jacobi 2000).
Cytospora canker enters the stem through existing wounds to the bark.
Willows (Salix spp.) and poplars (Populus spp.) are most susceptible.
Herb data:
Comments:
Sun requirement:
Soil moisture:
Precipitation: 16-86 inches (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2007).
Fire:
Hazards:
Sowing time:
Transplant time:
Stratification: none required
Seed yield:
Seed harvest:
Seed first harvest:
Seed cleaning: difficult
Planting duration: long
Seed insect problem:
Seed shatter: high
Seed size: small
Seed harvest date:
Seed comments: Seed is windborne.
Herbaria:
Key words:
Alternate Genus:
Alternate Species: S. rigida, S. mackenzieana
Alternate Variety: S. rigida var. mackenzieana
Remarks:
Propagation:
Willows root readily from hardwood cuttings and seed germinates readily without pretreatment, but seed is short-lived and must be kept moist during germination. Seed propagated containerized material is preferable for restoration planting because it maintains genetic diversity and assures establishment.
Reproduces sexually by seed and vegetatively by rhizomes. Stems detached from the plant also root readily in moist soil.
Notes:
Recommended:
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. USDA, Soil Conservation Service, Corvallis Plant Materials Center. Corvallis, OR.
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.
Heinze, Donald H. 1994. Willows of Montana. Riparian Tech. Bull. No 2. US Dept. of the Interior, BLM Montana State Office. Billings, MT.
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.
Kepley, J.B., and W.R. Jacobi. 2000. Pathogenicity of Cytospora Fungi on Six Hardwood Species. Journal of Arboriculture 26:326-332.
Landis, Thomas D., David R. Dreesen, and 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 – Symposium on Ecology and Management of Riparian Shrub Communities. USDA 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 Plant 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. USDA, NRCS. Spokane, WA.
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.
Other References:
Plant Guide from the USDA PLANTS Database
Links: