General: Dioecious shrubs, 0.2-1.5 m tall, not colonial; branches erect, flexible at base; twigs yellow- to grey-brown, sparsely to densely hairy.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, leathery, broadly elliptic to egg-shaped, 2-7 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, lower surface glaucous, long soft-hairy or veins with long straight hairs, hairs white, upper surface shiny, deeply impressed veiny, smooth or silky, margins entire or toothed, bases rounded, tips rounded or notched; leaf stalks with or without dark, glandular dots at top; stipules rudimentary.
Flowers: Unisexual, lacking sepals and petals, borne in catkins which flower as leaves emerge, the catkins slender, on leafy twigs; floral bracts pale, hairs straight; stamens 2; ovaries 1, hairy; styles 0.2-0.4 mm long.
Fruits: Capsules which split open to release the seeds, each of which is surrounded by a tuft of hairs; stalks 0.4-1.2 mm long.
Notes: In this species the vegetative twigs almost always terminate in a catkin.
Moist to dry open forests and rocky streamsides in the upper montane and subalpine zones, rarely in the alpine zone; locally common in extreme E BC, less common westward; E to AB and disjunct in N MB to NS and NF and S to MT and OR.
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)
