Salix boothii

Booth's willow

Family: Salicaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Booth's willow is a native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, high Cascade Range, northern and eastern Sierra Nevada, Warner Mountains, and eastern Sierra Nevada in wet subalpine meadows and shorelines at elevations of 1,525 to 3,200 meters. Flowering from April to July, this willow produces delicate flowers in catkins that emerge before or with the leaves. Growing up to 6 meters tall with twigs ranging from yellow-brown to red-brown, it develops a distinctive shaggy or smooth stem texture. Its leaves are uniquely strap-shaped to broadly elliptic, measuring 26 to 102 millimeters long, with white or white and rusty soft shaggy hairs on the underside and edges that may be entire or finely serrated. The shrub has leaf-like stipules and distinctive gland-dotted leaf margins, creating a complex and textured appearance in alpine and subalpine landscapes.

Habitat: Uncommon. Wet subalpine meadows, shores

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 1525-3200 m

Bioregions: KR, CaRH, n&amps SNH, Wrn, SNE

California counties: Mono, Inyo, Fresno, Alpine, Tulare, Siskiyou, Butte, Shasta, Modoc, Plumas, Sierra, El Dorado, Lassen, Tuolumne, Trinity, Humboldt, Tehama

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.