Salix orestera

Gray-leafed sierra willow, Gray-Leafed Sierra Willow

Family: Salicaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Gray-leafed sierra willow is a native shrub found in the Sierra Nevada and eastern Sierra Nevada in wet alpine, subalpine meadows, and streams at elevations of 1,100 to 4,000 meters. Flowering from June to July, this plant produces white or rusty-toned silky flowers on leafy shoots. Growing to less than 2 meters tall with twigs ranging from yellow to red-brown, it has a distinctive shrubby form with glaucous branches that become glabrous with age. Its leaves are unique, featuring strap-shaped to narrowly elliptic blades 35 to 95 millimeters long, with white or white and rusty silky hairs on the undersides and wedge-shaped to convex bases. The shrub's delicate leaf stipules are generally leaf-like, with young leaves displaying long silky textures that add to its soft, alpine appearance.

Habitat: Wet alpine, subalpine meadows, streams

Bloom period: Jun-Jul

Elevation: 1100-4000 m

Bioregions: SN, SNE

California counties: Inyo, Tulare, Tuolumne, Mono, Fresno, Mariposa, Amador, Nevada, El Dorado, Madera, Trinity, Alpine, Sierra, San Bernardino, Placer, Plumas, Imperial, Modoc

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