Salix herbacea
| Dwarf Willow
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.jpg) Drawing of Dwarf Willow | ||||||||||||||
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| Salix herbacea L. | ||||||||||||||
The Dwarf Willow (Salix herbacea, also known as the Least Willow or Snowbed Willow) is the most common of a group of tiny creeping willows (family Salicaceae). It is the smallest tree in the world. It is adapted to survive in harsh arctic and sub-arctic environments, and has a wide distribution on both sides of the North Atlantic, in arctic northwest Asia, northern Europe, Greenland, and eastern Canada, and further south on high mountains, south to the Pyrenees, the Alps and the Rila in Europe, and the northern Appalachian Mountains in New York, United States. It grows in tundra and rocky moorland, usually at over 1500 m altitude in the south of its range.
It typically grows to only 1-6 cm in height and has round, shiny green leaves 1-2 cm long and broad. Like the rest of the willows, Dwarf Willow is dioecious, with male and female catkins on separate plants. As a result the plant's appearance varies; the female catkins are red-coloured, while the male catkins are yellow-coloured.
