- Salix arctica
Taxobox
name = "Salix arctica"
status = secure
image_width = 240px
image_caption = Arctic Willow foliage and male catkins
regnum =Plant ae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo =Malpighiales
familia =Salicaceae
genus = "Salix"
species = "S. arctica"
binomial = "Salix arctica"
binomial_authority = Pall."Salix arctica" (Arctic Willow) is a tiny creeping
willow (familySalicaceae ). It is adapted to survive in harsh arctic and sub-arctic environments, and has a circumpolar distribution round theArctic Ocean . It grows intundra and rockymoorland , and is the northernmostwoody plant in the world, occurring north to the northern limit of land on the north coast ofGreenland . It also occurs further south inNorth America on high altitude alpine tundra south to the Sierra Nevada inCalifornia and theRocky Mountains inNew Mexico , and inAsia toXinjiang inChina .Germplasm Resources Information Network: [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?102715 "Salix arctica"] ] Salicaceae of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: [http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/sal/www/wlsaar.htm "Salix arctica"] ] Flora Europaea: [http://rbg-web2.rbge.org.uk/cgi-bin/nph-readbtree.pl/feout?FAMILY_XREF=&GENUS_XREF=Salix&SPECIES_XREF=arctica&TAXON_NAME_XREF=&RANK= "Salix arctica"] ]It is typically a low
shrub growing to only 1-15 cm in height (rarely to 25 cm high) and has round, shiny green leaves 1-4 cm long and broad, rarely up to 8 cm long and 6 cm broad; they are pubescent, with long silky, silvery hairs. Like the rest of the willows, Arctic Willow is dioecious, with male and femalecatkin s on separate plants. As a result the plant's appearance varies; the female catkins are red-coloured, while the male catkins are yellow-coloured.Jepson Flora: [http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Salix+arctica "Salix arctica"] ]Despite its small size, it is a long-lived plant, growing extremely slowly in the severe arctic climate; one in eastern Greenland was found to be 236 years old.
Hybrids with "
Salix arcticola " and "Salix glauca " are known.References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.