Salix discolor

Salix discolor, the American pussy willow<ref name=grin>Template:GRIN</ref> or glaucous willow,<ref name=BSBI07>Template:BSBI 2007</ref> is a species of willow native to North America, one of two species commonly called pussy willow.

It is native to the vast reaches of Alaska as well as the northern forests and wetlands of Canada (British Columbia east to Newfoundland), and is also found in the northern portions of the contiguous United States (Washington east to Maine, and south to Maryland).<ref name=grin/><ref name=bc>Plants of British Columbia: Salix discolor</ref><ref name=boreal>Borealforests: Salix discolor</ref>

It is a weak-wooded deciduous shrub or small tree growing to Template:Convert tall, with brown shoots. The leaves are oval, 3–14 cm long and 1–3.5 cm broad, green above and downy grey-white beneath.

The flowers are soft silky silvery catkins, borne in early spring before the new leaves appear, with the male and female catkins on different plants (dioecious); the male catkins mature yellow at pollen release.

The fruit is a small capsule 7–12 mm long containing numerous minute seeds embedded in cottony down.<ref name=bc/><ref name=boreal/>

Cultivation and uses

Like other willows, it contains salicin, and was used by Native Americans as a painkiller.<ref name=boreal/>

As with the closely related Salix caprea (European pussy willow), it is also often grown for cut flowers. Pussy willow has further cultural information and other uses.

Ecology

Male flowers provide pollen for bees, and it is a popular larval host, supporting the Acadian hairstreak, black-waved flannel moth, cecropia moth, Compton's tortoiseshell, cynthia moth, dreamy duskywing, eastern tiger swallowtail, elm sphinx, imperial moth, Io moth, modest sphinx, mourning cloak, polyphemus moth, promethea moth, red-spotted purple, small-eyed sphinx, twin-spotted sphinx, and viceroy.<ref>The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.</ref>

• 2024-02-08 09 51 05 Pussy willow buds enlarging into catkins (pussies) along Windybush Way in the Mountainview section of Ewing Township, Mercer County, New Jersey.jpg

  Branch with catkins in early spring

• S discolor female flowers 01.JPG

  Female flowers

• S discolor male flowers.JPG

  Male flowers