General: Dioecious shrubs to trees, 1-6 m tall, not colonial; branches erect, flexible at base; twigs red-brown, smooth to sparsely hairy.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, very narrowly elliptic to elliptic, 4-8 cm long, 0.7-2 cm wide, lower surface glaucous, long-silky, hairs white and rust-coloured, upper surface highly glossy or shiny, smooth, margins toothed, bases and tips pointed; leaf stalks without glandular dots at top; stipules leaflike.
Flowers: Unisexual, lacking sepals and petals, borne in catkins which flower as leaves emerge or just before, stout, unstalked, floral bracts pale or dark, hairs straight or wavy; stamens 2; ovaries 1, hairy; styles 0.3-0.5 mm long.
Fruits: Capsules which split open to release the seeds, each of which is surrounded by a tuft of hairs; stalks 0.6-0.9 mm long.
Moist to mesic sedge fens, openings in spruce forests and lake shores in the montane and subalpine zones; common in N BC, rare in S BC; N to AK, YT and S NT and E to PQ.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
