Salix planifolia

Tea-leafed willow, Tea-Leafed Willow

Family: Salicaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Tea-leafed willow is a California native shrub found in the Sierra Nevada and eastern Sierra Nevada in subalpine meadows and streambanks at elevations of 2,500 to 4,000 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces small flowers in slender catkins with brown to black flower bracts. Growing as a compact shrub less than one meter tall with twigs in striking yellow-brown, red-brown, or violet tones, it has a delicate branching structure. Its leaves are elliptical, 19 to 75 millimeters long, with fine serrated edges and a distinctive white or white-and-rusty silky surface that gives the plant its tea-leaf-like appearance. The shrub has delicate white to rusty silky ovaries and small staminate flowers with two stamens.

Habitat: Subalpine meadows, streambanks

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 2500-4000 m

Bioregions: SNH, SNE

California counties: Mono, Inyo, Tuolumne, Plumas, Mariposa, Fresno

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