75 



var. wolf ii is a low, spreading shrub of stream and 

 river banks, growing to a maximum height of 2 

 meters. The leaves are on short stems with evident 

 leafy stipules at their bases. The leaf blades 

 have smooth margins, and are longer than wide, with 

 sharpish tips. They may be as long as 4.5 cm and 

 as wide as 1.5 cm. Leaves are silky with soft, 

 long appressed hairs, appearing grayish, usually 

 more so below than above. The catkins appear at 

 the same time as the leaves, on short leafy stems. 

 Male catkins are 1-2 cm long and usually less than 

 1 cm thick. Female catkins are 1.5-4 cm long. 

 Both catkins bear dark brown or black scales which 

 are persistent and woolly. Capsules of the female 

 catkins are hairy. 



2. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Freely branched shrub from 

 6-20 dm tall; current season twigs sparsely 

 villous-puberulent ; leaves with petioles 2-10 mm 

 long and foliaceous stipules 1-5 mm long which may 

 be glandular-serrate and are sooner or later 

 deciduous; leaf blades entire, acute, elliptic, 3- 

 4.5 times as long as wide, up to 4.5 cm long and 

 1.5 cm wide, sparsely to densely sericeous; aments 

 coetaneous on short leafy-bracted peduncles, bracts 

 often over 1 cm; scales dark-brown to black, 

 persistent, woolly-villous; staminate aments 1-2 cm 

 long, usually less than 1 cm wide; stamens 2, 

 filaments glabrous; pistillate aments 1.5-4 cm 

 long; capsules 3.5-5 mm long, villous-puberulent, 

 pedicels under 1 mm; style 0.5-1.1 mm long, longer 

 than the short, bilobed stigma (adapted from 

 Hitchcock and Cronquist 1964) . 



3. LOCAL FIELD CHARACTERS: Salix wolfii var. wolfii 

 forms low, spreading bushes, often not much taller 

 than surrounding sedges and grasses and usually 

 less than waist high. The pubescence of the leaves 

 reflects light and gives the shrubs a silvery- 

 grayish look. 



D. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



1. RANGE: Salix wolfii var. wolfii occurs mainly in 

 Colorado, northeast Utah and Wyoming, entering 

 southwest Montana and eastern Idaho. 



2. CURRENT SITES (GALLATIN NATIONAL FOREST): Salix 

 volfii var. wolfii is recently documented (1989) 

 from two sites on the Gallatin National Forest. 

 These sites occur wholly or partially on U.S. 

 Forest Service lands. Locations, including legal 

 and topographic data, are provided in the element 

 occurrence print-outs, pp. 78 and 80, and on the 



