Single Record

PhotoRecords: YES: FrontRangeWildflowers: Hinsdale Co, Thirtymile cpgd, 11 July 2020; Rich Haswell: Rio Grande Co, Tewksbury trailhead, 26 May 2020

Comments: Geyer's willow is a mid-elevation Salix growing along streams on the west and perhaps east sides of the Valley, marking the south-eastern edge of the USA distribution. BONAP shows Alamosa and Costilla counties, with no SEINet vouchers. Kittel (2023) personally verifies the presence of Salix geyeriana in Saguache, Rio Grande, Conejos, Mineral, Hinsdale, and San Juan counties. This willow has repeatedly been observed on the banks of the Rio Grande, intermittently from the foot of Rio Grande Reservoir (Hinsdale Co) at least as far down as Tewksbury trail (Rio Grande Co, 4 miles southwest of South Fork). S. geyeriana is common in all states W. of the Plains, although it does not follow the Rio Grande drainage in New Mexico. Carter (1988) says is "common near bogs and meadows in the front range" of Colorado. Note that the whitish pruinose twigs, lance-shaped leaves, and nearly globular catkins on leafy peduncles make this species one of the easier willows to determine. However, It forms hybrids with a number of Watershed willows, among them S. bebbiana, S. irrorata, and S. ligulifolia.