THE WILLOWS OF ALASKA 



331 



iS. SALIX OVALIFOLIA Trautv. Oval Willow. 



Salix ovalifolia'TKXVTY. Nouv. Mem, Soc. Nat. Mosc. 2: 306. /. /J. 1832. 

 Salix tinalaschcensis Cham.; Anders. Oefv. Kongl. Vet. Akad. Foerh. 15 : 



130. 1858. 

 Salix rotimdata Rydberg ; Jordan, Fur Seal Islands 3: 571. 1899, not 



Salix rotundata Forbes 1829. 

 Saiix cyclophylla Rydberg, Bull. N. Y. Bot. Gard. i : 274. 1899. 



A common and characteristic prostrate willow of western Alaska 

 and eastern Siberia, extending in Alaska along the coast from the 

 Shumagin Islands westward to the Aleutian Islands, northward through 

 the islands and shores of Bering Sea, 

 and northeastward along the Arctic 

 Ocean to Point Barrow. The type 

 specimen of ovalifolia came from Cape 

 Espenberg, Kotzebue Sound, of tin- 

 alaschcensis from Unalaska, of rotun- 

 data and cyclophylla from St. Paul 

 Island, of the Pribilof group. It is 

 distinguishable from the other prostrate 

 willows of Alaska by its oval to orbi- 

 cular, nearly or quite entire leaves 

 usually 10 to 20, or sometimes even 

 25, mm. in length, glaucous beneath, 

 and at maturity thick, tough, and promi- 

 nently marked beneath by a net-work 

 of fine veins, its slender shoots of 

 the season running over the surface 

 of the ground, its smooth and glau- 

 cous capsules on stalks little or not 

 at all exceeding the nectaries, and its styles about .5 mm. in length. 

 It forms large carpet-like patches in the grass, extending to sea level, 

 apparently, in the southernmost parts of its range and reaching there- 

 fore below the limits of most strictly arctic plants. 



Specimens have been examined as follows : 



Takutat Bay. — On the glacial gravels along the west shore of the 

 bay, only a single patch seen, Coville and Kearney (No. 1141). 

 Although this locality is far to the east of the main range of the species, 

 the specimens have the characteristic long creeping shoots and glaucous 

 capsules. The fact that only a single patch was observed, close to the 

 bank of a stream, suggests that a stray seed may have been brought to 

 the spot by the wind or some water bird. It is quite possible, too, 

 that Salix ovalifolia occurs at several points east of Kadiak, for the 



Fig. 26. Salix ovalifolia 

 Trautv. : a, pistillate flowering 

 twig, natural size ; b, pistillate 

 flower, enlarged six diameters ; c, 

 d, mature leaves, natural size. 



