Salix petrophila
Rocky mountain willow, Rocky Mountain Willow
Family: Salicaceae · Type: shrub · Native
Rocky mountain willow is a California native shrub found in the Lassen Peak and central Sierra Nevada Mountains in alpine tundra at elevations of 1,670 to 4,000 meters. Flowering from July to August, this plant produces small flowers on leafy shoots with tan to dark brown bracts. Growing as a diminutive trailing shrub less than 10 centimeters tall that roots along the ground, it develops yellow-green or yellow-brown twigs with sparse soft shaggy hairs. Its leaves are elliptic to obovate, 19 to 44 millimeters long, with long soft wavy hairs on the undersides and wedge-shaped bases. The plant has distinctive tiny stipules that are either absent or vestigial, and its mature leaves have a soft, shaggy appearance.
Habitat: Alpine tundra
Bloom period: Jul-Aug
Elevation: 1670-4000 m
Bioregions: CaRH (Lassen Peak), c&s SNH
California counties: Mono, Inyo, Fresno, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Alpine, Tulare, Madera, Shasta, Sierra, Nevada, Lassen
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.