E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

General:
Dioecious shrubs, 0.1-3(-4.5) m tall, not colonial; branches erect, flexible at base; twigs brownish, smooth or densely hairy.

Leaves:
Alternate, simple, narrowly elliptic to egg-shaped, 2-7.5 cm long, 0.8-2.6 cm wide, lower surface glaucous, smooth or midrib sparsely long soft-hairy, hairs white and rust-coloured, upper surface shiny or highly glossy, smooth, margins entire or sometimes toothed, bases and tips pointed; leaf stalks without glandular dots at top; stipules leaflike, linear, often longer than the stalks, persistent 2-4 years.

Flowers:
Unisexual, lacking sepals and petals, borne in catkins which flower before leaves emerge, the catkins stout, unstalked; floral bracts dark, hairs straight; stamens 2; ovaries 1, hairy; styles 1-1.8 mm long.

Fruits:
Capsules which split open to release the seeds, each of which is surrounded by a tuft of hairs; stalks 0.2-0.8 mm long.

Notes:
This species may hybridize with S. planifolia where their ranges overlap in N BC.