General: Dioecious shrubs or trees, 1-8 m tall, not colonial; branches erect, flexible at base; twigs yellow- to red-brown, densely hairy.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, elliptic to lance- or egg-shaped, 3-12 cm long, 1.7-5 cm wide, lower surface very densely silky, satiny, or woolly, hairs white, upper surface dull, sparsely long soft-hairy to nearly smooth, margins entire or toothed, bases pointed, tips rounded to pointed; leaf stalks without glandular dots at top; stipules leaflike or rudimentary.
Flowers: Unisexual, lacking sepals and petals, borne in catkins which flower as leaves emerge or just before them, the catkins slender to stout, on leafy twigs; floral bracts pale or dark, hairs straight or wavy; stamens 1; ovaries 1, hairy; styles 0.4-0.8 mm long.
Fruits: Capsules which split open to release the seeds, each of which is surrounded by a tuft of hairs; stalks 0.4-1.4 mm long.
Moist to mesic thickets, floodplains, lakeshores, avalanche tracks, clearings and forest margins in the lowland and montane zones; common in S BC south of 56degreeN, especially W of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, infrequent northward; N to S AK, E to AB and S to MT, ID 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 region, present more in the Pacific rather than the Cordilleran region. 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.
.jpg)
