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Foothills to sub-alpine. Wetlands, openings. Summer.
LaPlata Canyon, June 22, 2010.

Salix drummondiana typically grows 6-9 feet tall but may be as much as 18 feet tall.  As is typical of almost all Willows, Drummond's Willow inhabits streamsides and wetlands.  Leaves are bright green and usually hairless on the upper side and densely silvery white pubescent on the lower side. 

Salix drummondiana was first collected for science in the Rocky Mountains by Thomas Drummond in the early 1800s and the plant was named by Barratt in William Jackson Hooker's 1838 Flora Boreali-Americana.  Thomas Drummond (1780-1835) was a famous botanist, naturalist, explorer, and Curator of the Belfast Botanical Gardens.  (Click for more biographical information about Drummond).

Salix drummondiana (Drummond's Willow)
Salicaceae (Willow Family)

Foothills to sub-alpine. Wetlands, openings. Summer.
LaPlata Canyon, June 22, 2010.

The catkins (also called "aments") appear before or with the leaves.  Although male catkins are relatively normal in size (20 millimeters), the female catkins are often (as shown at left) distinctively large (20-50 millimeters).

Salix drummondiana (Drummond's Willow)
Salicaceae (Willow Family)

Foothills to sub-alpine. Wetlands, openings. Summer.
LaPlata Canyon, June 22, 2010.

Female catkins explode in a fluff of hairs that are attached to the seeds.

Notice the very finely hairy, silvery underside of the leaves and the glabrous (without hairs) shiny green top side of the leaves.

Salix drummondiana (Drummond's Willow)
Salicaceae (Willow Family)

Foothills to sub-alpine. Wetlands, openings. Summer.
LaPlata Canyon, June 22, 2010.

Individual green/yellow capsules are hairy on the outside.

The brown/red projections are the styles and the slightly swollen sticky stigmas that receive the pollen grains.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Salix drummondiana