General: Dioecious shrubs to trees, 0.5-10 m tall, not colonial; branches erect, flexible or somewhat brittle at base; twigs red-brown, hairy, peeled wood prominently ridged.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, narrowly elliptic to elliptic or egg-shaped, 2-8 cm long, 1-3 cm wide, lower surface glaucous, short-woolly to nearly smooth, hairs white, upper surface dull, short-silky to nearly smooth, margins entire to blunt-toothed, bases pointed, tips abruptly pointed; leaf stalks without glandular dots at top; stipules leaflike but soon lost.
Flowers: Unisexual, lacking sepals and petals, borne in catkins which flower as leaves emerge or just before them, the catkins stout, unstalked or on leafy twigs; floral bracts pale, hairs straight or wavy; stamens 2; ovaries 1, hairy; styles 0.1-0.4 mm long.
Fruits: Capsules which split open to release the seeds, each of which is surrounded by a tuft of hairs; stalks 2-5 mm long.
Mesic to moist forests, thickets, swamps and clearings in the steppe and montane zones; common throughout BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to NJ, NY, PA, IN, IA, NM, AZ and CA.
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)
A shade-intolerant, montane, Asian and transcontinental North American deciduous shrub. In the Pacific region present only in the coast - interior transition. Occurs in subcontinental to continental boreal and cool temperate climates. Scattered to plentiful on nitrogen-medium soils. especially in disturbed and early seral communities, common in flood plains. May hinder natural regeneration and growth of shade-tolerant conifers.
