Salix geyeriana
Geyer's willow
Family: Salicaceae · Type: shrub · Native
Geyer's willow is a native shrub found in southern California Ranges, northern and central Sierra Nevada, southern Sierra Nevada (especially Kern Plateau), San Bernardino Mountains, and Great Basin in subalpine streams and meadows at elevations of 1,450 to 3,600 meters. Flowering from April to June, this willow produces white or greenish flowers in small spherical clusters emerging just before or with the leaves. Growing to less than 5 meters tall with brittle twigs that are yellow or yellow- to red-brown and often covered in a waxy glaucous coating, it develops a distinctive shrubby form. Its leaves are strap-shaped to linear, 32 to 89 millimeters long, with dense white or white and rusty silky hairs on the undersurface, and typically have wedge-shaped bases. The shrub's twigs and young leaves are notably silky, with mature leaves remaining flat or slightly rolled under the edges.
Habitat: Subalpine streams, meadows
Bloom period: Apr-Jun
Elevation: 1450-3600 m
Bioregions: s CaRH, n&c SNH, s SNH (esp Kern Plateau), SnBr, GB
California counties: Nevada, Inyo, Placer, Modoc, Kern, Plumas, Tulare, Mono, Fresno, Del Norte, El Dorado, Alpine, Mariposa, Lassen, Sierra, Butte, Tehama, Shasta, Tuolumne
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.