Rosemary-leaved Willow

Description

Flower: Male and female flowers on separate plants. Inflorescence a small, almost globose catkin on a short, leaved stalk. Individual flowers in axils of catkin scales, small, lacking perianth. Catkin scales narrow, silky-hairy, brownish or reddish. Stamens 2, filaments hairless, anthers yellow. Pistil formed from 2 fused carpels, ovary long-stalked, hairless or hairy. Leaves: Often opposite. Short-stalked, lacking stipules. Blade 1.5-3 cm (0.6-1.2 in.) long, oblanceolate, often with bent apex, green and eventually hairless above, underside densely covered in smooth, shiny hairs, margins glandular, rolled under. Vein pairs 4-8. Buds: Globose, reddish, hairless or hairy. Fruit: Hairless or hairy capsule. Seeds bar-like, densely plumed. Habitat: Sandy shores, mire margins, mires and mire meadows with thin peat layer, depressions in sandy pine woodland. Flowering time: May. Flowers before coming into leaf.