Salix lemmonii

Lemmon's willow

Family: Salicaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Lemmon's willow is a California native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, southern North Coast Ranges, southern North Coast Inner Coast Ranges, California Ranges, Sierra Nevada, San Bernardino Mountains, and San Jacinto Mountains in streams, wet meadows, and burns within subalpine pine forest at elevations of 1,400 to 3,500 meters. Flowering from May to June, this willow produces delicate flowers in catkins with yellow- to red-brown twigs. Growing as a compact shrub 1 to 4 meters tall with brittle stems, it develops strongly glaucous or non-glaucous branches. Its leaves are distinctive, with strap-shaped to narrowly elliptic blades 44 to 110 millimeters long, featuring silky young leaves and mature blades that are acuminate with either entire or finely serrate edges. The mature plant displays sparse white and rusty hairs on leaf surfaces, giving it a subtle textural complexity.

Habitat: Streams, wet meadows, burns in subalpine pine forest

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 1400-3500 m

Bioregions: KR, s NCoRO (Lake Co.), s NCoRI (Sonoma Co.), CaRH, SNH, SnBr, SnJt

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