细枝柳 xi zhi liu

Salix mongolica (Franchet) Siuzev f. gracilior Siuzev, Trudy Bot. Muz. Imp. Akad. Nauk 9: 90. 1912.

Shrubs to 3 m tall; bark gray. Branchlets yellowish or greenish, slender, glabrous. Stipules linear or lanceolate, usually caducous; petiole 3-5 mm, glabrous; leaf blade linear or linear-lanceolate, usually wider distally, 3-6 cm × 3-4 mm, abaxially greenish, glabrous, adaxially green, base cuneate, margin glandular dentate, apex obtuse or shortly acuminate; lateral veins diverging from yellowish midvein at acute angle. Flowering nearly coetaneous. Catkins thinly terete, 2-4 cm × 3-5 mm; peduncle 5-10 mm, with leaflets; bracts brownish, long obovate, rarely 2-colored, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Male flower: adaxial gland brownish, small; stamens 2; filaments connate, downy at base; anthers yellow. Fruiting catkin elongated, thick, dense. Female flower: ovary ovoid or ellipsoid, tomentose, subsessile; style short; stigma capitate. Capsule tomentose. Fl. May. fr. May-Jun.

* Plains. Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin (Dehui Xian), Liaoning, E Nei Mongol

Grown to protect embankments and to stabilize sand; used for weaving wicker articles.