THE WILLOWS OF ALASKA 335 



20. SALIX POLARIS Wahl. Polar Willow. 



Sa/Lv pohiris VJ AHi.. Fl. Lap. 261. t. ij. 181 2. 



A very small prostrate willow with stems imbedded in the ground, 

 oval to orbicular-obovate, entire or nearly entire, smooth, deciduous 

 leaves bright green on both surfaces or somewhat glaucous beneath, 

 commonly i to 1.5 cm. long, the oblong 

 to globose pistillate catkins few-flowered, 

 with pubescent or partly smooth ovaries 

 and capsules. It resembles in size and 

 general appearance both leiocarpa and 

 ■phlcbophylla^ but it has shorter catkins 

 than the latter and lacks its persistent 

 skeletonizing leaves. These organs too 

 are less tapering at the base in polar is Fig. 27. Salixpolaris\V^\i\.: 



J ,1 1 n 1 • 1 J- . 1 «) pistillate catkin, natural 



and seem to be wholly devoid of the . ^ , . .„ 



•' size ; 0, pistillate flower, en- 



long hairs often present on the margins 1^,^^^ six diameters ; c, leafy 

 in pJilebophylla. In its slender naked branch, natural size, 

 stoloniform stems, imbedded in the 



ground and rooting, it resembles leiocarpa^ but that species has 

 smooth capsules and its leaves are smaller and more uniformly oi'bic- 

 ular, never glaucous on the back, and inclined to be persistent. In 

 the Alaskan region the species, so far as known, is confined to the 

 Arctic zone, about the shores of the northern part of Bering Sea. It 

 was described originally from Lapland and afterward found in northern 

 Asia. 



The following specimens, in addition to European ones, have been 

 examined : 



Port Clarence. — On the tvuidra, Trelease and Saunders (No. 33S7, 

 3385, in part). Reported by Lundstrom also as collected here by the 

 Vega Expedition. 



Siberia7i Coast. — On Kayne, or Arakamtchechene, Island, collected 

 on the Ringgold and Rodgers U. S. Exploring Expedition, C. Wright, 

 1853-6. 



Cape Vajtconver. — Collected by J. M. Macoun, 1891. 



Our specimens of this plant are few and not sufficiently ample to 

 furnish a comprehensive idea of the form of the leaves and the char- 

 acter of the fruit in Alaskan polar is. This species was reported from 

 Alaska by several of the early expeditions but it is probable that most 

 if not 'all these early collections were either leiocarpa or pJilebophylla. 

 Mr. M. S. Bebb in preparing the list of North American willows for 



