interior sandbar willow

Salix interior

Broken twigs carried downstream by floods can easily take root in mud, allowing the plant to clone itself miles away.

Scientific name: Salix interior
Taxonomy: Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Malpighiales › Salicaceae › Salix
IUCN Red List status: Least Concern
Population trend: stable
Biome: wetland
Habitat: Riparian zones, sandbars, riverbanks, floodplains, and moist alluvial soils.
Diet: Autotrophic (photosynthesis; requires abundant sunlight and water).
Range: North America, United States, Canada
Size: Dense shrub growing 2 to 10 meters (6 to 33 feet) tall with narrow, lance-shaped leaves.
Lifespan: 20-30 years for individual stems; clonal colonies can persist for much longer.
Active: diurnal
Threats: River channelization, water flow regulation, invasive species, and loss of natural flooding cycles.
Safe to approach?: Harmless. Safe to approach and touch. Avoid breaking branches as they are vital for soil stabilization. During spring, be mindful of stinging insects like bees that are heavily attracted to its pollen-rich catkins.

Photo: Harvey Barrison, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist