Feltleaf Willow

About Feltleaf Willow in Alberta

Feltleaf Willow is a native northern Alberta willow, usually a shrub or small tree of cold-region river flats, alluvial ground, and other northern wet-to-moist open sites. It is best recognized by its broad leaves with heavily felted hairy undersides and its coarse heavy-textured appearance. For Ancient Roots Alberta purposes, it matters most as a northern wildland species with ecological rarity and sensitive-status relevance, not as an urban or ornamental willow.

Identification: Leaves are broad for a willow, usually oblong to obovate or oblanceolate, with strongly revolute margins. The lower surface is densely felted with tomentose or villous hairs, often obscuring any glaucous surface beneath. Young leaves are especially woolly, and the dull upper surface adds to the plant's heavy-textured look.

Alberta range and habitat: Feltleaf Willow is native to Alberta and should be treated as a northern wildland species rather than a province-wide common willow. The source set supports a boreal-to-subarctic Alberta interpretation, with the species most likely concentrated in northern river-flat, lowland, and alluvial settings.