General: Dioecious shrubs, 0.4-4 m tall, not colonial; branches erect, flexible at base; twigs yellowish to red-brown, smooth or sparsely hairy; buds and foliage with a balsam-like fragrance
Leaves: Alternate, simple narrowly oblong to elliptic or broadly elliptic, 3-10 cm long, 2-4 cm wide, lower surface glaucous, smooth, upper surface shiny or highly glossy, smooth, margins toothed or entire, bases heart-shaped to rounded, tips pointed; leaf stalks with or 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, on leafy twigs; floral bracts pale, hairs straight or wavy; stamens 2; ovaries 1, smooth; styles 0.4-0.5 mm long.
Fruits: Capsules which split open to release the seeds, each of which is surrounded by a tuft of hairs; stalks 1.8-3.5 mm long.
Wet to moist muskeg, fens, stream margins and clearings in the montane zone; infrequent in E BC north of 53degreeN; N to YT and S NT, E to NF and S to ME, NH, MI, WI and MN.
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)
