Salix arctica

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Salix arctica
Arctic Willow foliage and male catkins
Conservation status
Secure
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Malpighiales Family: Salicaceae Genus: Salix Species: S. arctica
Binomial name
Salix arctica Pall.

Salix arctica (Arctic Willow) is a tiny creeping willow (family Salicaceae). It is adapted to survive in harsh arctic and sub-arctic environments, and has a circumpolar distribution round the Arctic Ocean. It grows in tundra and rocky moorland, and is the northernmost woody plant in the world, occurring north to the northern limit of land on the north coast of Greenland. It also occurs further south in North America on high altitude alpine tundra south to the Sierra Nevada in California and the Rocky Mountains in New Mexico, and in Asia to Xinjiang in China.^[1][2][3]

It is typically a low shrub growing to only 1-15 cm in height (rarely to 25 cm high) and has round, shiny green leaves 1-4 cm long and broad, rarely up to 8 cm long and 6 cm broad; they are pubescent, with long silky, silvery hairs. Like the rest of the willows, Arctic Willow is dioecious, with male and female catkins on separate plants. As a result the plant's appearance varies; the female catkins are red-coloured, while the male catkins are yellow-coloured.^[2][4]

Despite its small size, it is a long-lived plant, growing extremely slowly in the severe arctic climate; one in eastern Greenland was found to be 236 years old.^[2]

Hybrids with Salix arcticola and Salix glauca are known.^[2]

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