Salix lasiandra

Pacific willow

Family: Salicaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Pacific willow is a California native shrub found in riparian and wetland habitats across various western bioregions at elevations ranging from low to mid-elevation zones. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces yellow to green catkins with delicate, elongated flowers. Growing as a multi-stemmed shrub or small tree reaching 3 to 11 meters tall, it develops flexible branches that are yellow-, gray-, or red-brown in color. Its leaves are distinctively lanceolate, 5 to 17 centimeters long, with finely serrated edges and a tapered tip, featuring leaf-like stipules with noticeable glands along the petiole. In mature stands, Pacific willow forms dense thickets with branches that can be brittle at the base, creating important habitat and stabilization in riparian ecosystems.

California counties: Humboldt, Siskiyou, Los Angeles, Kern, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Tulare, Orange, Mono, Modoc, El Dorado, Yolo, Sierra, San Mateo, Sonoma, Del Norte, Lassen, Lake, Trinity, Mendocino, Butte, Glenn, Placer, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Marin, Mariposa, Tuolumne, Alameda, Plumas, Fresno, Sacramento, Riverside

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