| General Description | Shrub or small tree that produces catkins in the early spring. It has two toned leaves and glabrescent to pubescent stems.
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| ID Characteristic | Male catkins which appear in early April are silky soft, the leaves have a blue-green colour above and a pale gray-green colour below (discolour means ‘two-colours’ which refers to the two toned coloured leaves).
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| Shape | Small tree or upright multi-stemmed shrub. |
| Landscape | Good for wet or moist areas, fine leaf litter, but not used in landscapes very often because it is a wild species, although often grown for its spring blooming branches. |
| Propagation | The seeds have no dormancy and germinate soon after falling. They are easily grown through cuttings at anytime of the year. Tissue culture have been successful with this species and some cultivars are often grafted such as the hideous standard form. |
| Cultivation | Fibrous, spreading roots systems make them easy to transplant into a landscape, it tolerates full sun, and it can adapt to different pH levels.
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| Pests | Susceptible to canker, blights, and powdery mildew, with canker being the most serious observed.
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| Notable Specimens | The A.M. (Mac) Cuddy Garden, Strathroy, Ontario. |
| Habitat | Damp meadows, along shorelines, riverbanks, ditches, and other wet habitats. |
| Bark/Stem Description | Gray-brown, smooth, then becoming scaly with age. |
| Flower/Leaf Bud Description | Stout at maturity; 7–12 mm long, coloured and clothed as the twig, purple-brown, bud larger than Salix alba. |
| Leaf Description | Alternate, simple, oblong to elliptic, pointed or blunt-tipped, tapered at base, weakly serrated 3–10 cm long, 1–3 cm wide; may be fuzzy.
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| Flower Description | Catkins; male and female on separate plant, female catkins are 2-6 cm long & densely flowered; male catkins are 2–4 cm long; scales dark brown to black; long, hairy; fully developed before leaves expand.
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| Colour Description | Summer foliage blue-green above, pale greyish-green underside (not a very appealing autumn colour). It has yellow-brown. dark brown, or purple-brown stems. |
| Texture Description | Medium texture leaves; more coarse in the winter. |
