Salix daphnoides Vill.
violet willow
Small tree to c. 10 m high; ultimate branches ± pendulous; bark somewhat rough towards base. Shoots dark, with glaucous-white bloom in first 1-3 years, rather brittle, lacking striations below bark; buds glaucous, densely hairy. Petiole 1-2 cm long. Lamina 5-18 × 0.7-3 cm, usually linear-lanceolate, green, glaucescent or glaucous below, shining above, soon glabrous, bitter to taste, glandular-serrulate, slightly undulate; apex acuminate. Stipules 0.5-2 cm long, lanceolate. Catkins ?, mainly appearing before lvs, 3-5-(6) cm long, broad-cylindric, ± erect; rachis villous. Bracts 1-3.5 mm long, ovate or subovate, black in upper 3/4 or more, silky hairy; apex acuminate. Gland 1, 0.2-1.2 mm long, narrow-cylindric. Stamens 2, glabrous; anthers yellow.
N.: mainly Hawke's Bay; S.: mainly around Christchurch.
Temperate Eurasia 1983
Riverbanks.
FL Sep-Oct.
S. daphnoides has been planted along a number of riverbanks in the North and South Is and has since spread naturally. There are 2 subspp. grown in N.Z.: subsp. acutifolia (Willd.) Blytt et Dahl, sometimes treated at sp. rank as S. acutifolia Willd., and subsp. daphnoides. subsp. acutifolia is the more common in cultivation, and, although all wild plants seen belonged to this subsp., the type subsp. may be wild also. subsp. acutifolia has linear-lanceolate, bitter lvs and lanceolate stipules and subsp. daphnoides has lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, slightly bitter lvs and ovate-lanceolate stipules. The characteristic glaucous-white bloom of both subspp. is best seen on strong vegetative shoots which have not been subjected to severe buffeting by wind. Only ♂ plants of the sp. have been seen wild or cultivated.
