Salix ×jesupii
Salix ×jesupii Fernald: S. alba × S. lucida; S. ×ehrhartiana of authors, not G. Meyer. The origin of this hybrid, between a European and a native species, is unknown. It is characterized by: shrubs or trees, 7–10 m; branchlets red-brown; petioles convex to shallowly grooved adaxially, 3–11 mm, with pairs or clusters of spherical or stalked glands distally; largest medial leaf blade amphistomatous or hemiamphistomatous, abaxial surface glaucous, sparsely long-silky to glabrescent, hairs white and ferruginous; floral bract apex acute to rounded, toothed or entire; pistillate flowering branchlet 8–16 mm, bract deciduous after flowering; stamens 3–5; stipes 0.3–0.6 mm; ovary pyriform, glabrous; ovules 12–14 per ovary; styles 0.3–0.8 mm; capsules 4–5 mm.
Phenology: Flowering late April–mid May.
Habitat: Edges of streams and lakes, in wet deciduous woods, sand dunes, and wet railroad rights-of-way.
Elevation: 10–300m
Distribution
Ont., Que., P.E.I., Sask., Ill., Ky., Mass., N.H., N.Y., Ohio, Pa., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis. It is possibly introduced in Wash..
Discussion
Salix ×jesupii was named by M. S. Bebb (1895) as a formula hybrid, S. alba × S. lucida, and Fernald based his binomial on Bebb’s exsiccatae. In North America, it was mistaken for the European S. ×ehrhartiana G. Meyer (S. alba Linnaeus × S. pentandra Linnaeus) (G. W. Argus 1986). Study of nectary morphology confirmed that the North American plants were not the same as the European hybrid. In herbaria, plants of S. ×jesupii often are misidentified as S. alba, S. euxina, S. ×fragilis, or S. lucida.
Selected References
None.