Vegetation Around Las Vegas, Goodding's Willow (Salix gooddingii)

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Goodding's Willow (Salix gooddingii)
Trees Around Las Vegas, Vegetation Around Las Vegas

Goodding's Willow grows as a "real" tree

General: Goodding's Willow (Salix gooddingii) is a common tree of wet areas in the Mojave Desert. The tree generally grows 40-60 feet tall. The leaves are long and narrow with a pointy tip. Catkins produce cottony material that catches in the wind and carries seeds away.

Goodding's Willow is a common component of vegetation communities in wet areas in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zones.

Family: Willow (Salicaceae).

Other Names: Goodding's Black Willow.

Leaves: lanceolate, 3-5 inches long, finely serrate

Plant Form: Shrubby tree with many trunks and many branches.

Height: To almost 100 feet, usually less than 40 feet.

Trunk: To several feet thick at the base

Bark: Gray, furrowed.

Stems:

Leaves: Lanceolate, 3-5 inches long, finely serrate. Young leaves hairy.

Flowers: Blooms spring and early summer. Inflorescence: catkin.

Goodding's Willow catkin with open flowers

Seeds: Attached to a cottony mass that carries the seeds on the wind.

Habitat: Areas with water: streams, washes, seeps, springs.

Elevation: To about 5,000 feet.

Distribution: Southwest US from Texas westward.

Comments:



Middle-aged tree bark	Middle-aged tree bark
Older-aged tree bark	Older-aged tree bark
Leaf from last year (dorsal) with freshly sprouting leaves during spring	Leaf from last year (ventral) with freshly sprouting leaves during spring
Fresh leaves sprouting during spring	Fresh leaves sprouting during spring
Fresh leaves are hairy	Fresh leaves are hairy

Goodding's Willow leaves: dorsal surface	Goodding's Willow leaves: ventral surface
Goodding's Willow leaves: dorsal surface	Goodding's Willow leaves: ventral surface
Leaves with serrate edges, hairs on lower surface	Leaves with serrate edges, hairs on lower surface

Fresh leaves with sprouting catkins	Fresh leaves with sprouting catkins
Fresh catkin with flower buds	Stem with flower buds and flowers
Catkin with open flowers	Catkin with open flowers
Catkin with developing fruits	Catkin with developing fruits
Catkin starting to produce cotton	Catkin starting to produce cotton
Catkin obscured by dense mass of cotton -- ready to sail on the wind and disperse seeds to other wet areas in the desert southwest.	Catkin obscured by dense mass of cotton -- ready to sail on the wind and disperse seeds to other wet areas in the desert southwest.


Spent fruits	Spent fruits

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate. Names generally follow the USDA database.
; Last updated 220815

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