(Barratt's willow)
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Photo of Salix barrattiana by Adolph Murie
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Salix barrattiana is a densely-leaved, many–branched, thicket-forming shrub of gravel floodplains with oily buds and stipules. Shrubs are typically low-growing and dense but can reach up to 1.5 m tall. Branches are black, gnarled, and marked with leaf scars. Twigs are densely gray-hairy. The leaf shape is
elliptic to
oblanceolate, margins
entire or minutely
serrate. Stipules are leafy and oily. Leaves are densely silky or pubescent, often appearing gray from a distance. Willows are
dioecious (that is, individual plants produce either male or female flowers only); the flowers highly reduced and borne in catkins specialized for wind pollination. Female catkins are
sessile and appear before the leaves emerge.
Pistils are densely gray hairy. Fruits are 2-valved
capsules, the seeds with fluffy white hairs to aid in wind dispersal. The oily stipules and buds and grey appearance of the leaves helps distinguish this plant from other willows.
Catkins of Salix barratiana appear before leaves in late spring.
Salix barrattiana is
dioecious, and insect and wind pollinated. Seeds have attached hairs to aid in wind dissemination.
Collett (2004) documented a gall-forming flies
Pontania on
S. barrattiana.
Salix barrattiana occurs only in northwestern North America, ranging from Alaska eastward into the Yukon and Northwest Territories, then south through British Columbia, Alberta, Montana and Wyoming. In Alaska, S. barrattiana is found primarily in eastern Alaska along the northern arc of the Alaska Range and the eastern Brooks Range. In Denali, this species occurs mainly in the northeastern quadrant of the park, abundant along the McKinley and Toklat rivers but can also be found in the upper Chulitna River drainage, around Shellabarger Pass, and the in Yentna River valley south of the range.
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right, depicting recent Denali data.
Salix barrattiana is a subalpine shrub and is found in the park at elevations from 591 m to 1401 m, with an average plot elevation of 1002 m. This species prefers flat to moderately sloped sites (< 12 degrees).
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right. For more on how to interpret these figures, visit Understanding Data Presented.
Salix barrattiana is low shrub of the subalpine zone that typically forms thickets on river bottoms, gravel bars, and subalpine and alpine meadows.
Well-drained moist to somewhat dry sites.
