Scouler's willow

Scouler's willow is a species of willow native to northwestern North America. Other names occasionally used include fire willow, Nuttall willow, mountain willow, and black willow.

Scouler's willow is a deciduous shrub or small tree, depending on the environment, usually with multiple stems that reach 2 to 7 metres (6+1⁄2 to 23 ft) in height in dry, cold, high elevations, and other difficult environments, and 10 to 20 m (33 to 66 ft) or more in favorable sites. The stems are straight and support few branches generally resulting in narrow crowns. The root system is fibrous, deep, and widespread. The thick sapwood is nearly white, and heartwood is light brown tinged with red. Stem bark is thin, gray or dark brown, with broad, flat ridges. Twigs are stout and whitish-green. The leaves are oblanceolate to elliptic, 5–12.5 centimetres (2–5 in) long, mostly short-pointed at the apex and tapered toward the base, with entire to sparsely wavy-toothed margins. They are dark-green and nearly hairless above, and white- or grayish-hairy below.

Main Photo Credit: "Scouler's willow (Salix scouleriana), British Columbia, Canada" by Bencreid, 2026. CC BY-NC 2.0.

Description: Wikipedia