Salix prolixa

Mackenzie's willow

Family: Salicaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Mackenzie's willow is a California native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, northern high Sierra Nevada, and northern Sierra Nevada in banks of rivers, streams, and marshes at elevations of 110 to 2,255 meters. Flowering from March to June, this willow produces yellow-brown flowers on leafy shoots with wavy-haired flower bracts. Growing to less than 5 meters tall with distinctive yellow- or red-brown twigs that are either glabrous or long-shaggy-hairy, it has a distinctive branching habit. Its leaves are narrowly oblong to obovate, 50 to 150 millimeters long, with serrated edges and rounded to heart-shaped bases, featuring leaf-like stipules with convex or rounded tips. The plant has pistillate flowers with glabrous ovaries and staminate flowers with two stamens.

Habitat: Banks of rivers, streams, marshes

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: 110-2255 m

Bioregions: KR, CaRH, n SNH

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