It has long been known to botanists that some trees have many forms of growth, including shrubs and even miniature varieties. One of these species is dwarf willow.
More precisely, this name is not a species, but many varieties of an amazing tree, which we will talk about today.
Most of them grow beyond the Arctic Circle and in the highlands. In the Alps, dwarf willow was found at an altitude of 3.2 km. This tree is found even on the islands of the Svalbard archipelago.
In the USA, it grows up to the Labrador. All willows of this family are distinguished by their attachment to humid places: they prefer to grow along the coast, sometimes even in those places on which the surf regularly rolls.
Almost all of their representatives are so beautiful that they immediately gained recognition among landscape designers. In particular, they are recommended for use in landscaping alpine slides and rocky areas.
The dwarf willow perfectly withstands freezing and a long stay under the snow due to the fact that its small trunks creep close to the ground.
The oval buds up to 6 mm in length are tightly pressed to the shoots. On one shoot, no more than 3-4 leaves develop. There are no stipules.
The leaves of most species differ in their wide elliptical shape, the tip of them is round or with a small notch, their length rarely exceeds 25-27 mm.
In addition, young leaves are distinguished by the presence of “fluff” on both sides, whereas on grown specimens it is preserved only along the cuttings of the leaves.
Despite the love of good hydration, dwarf willow is very common on rocky slopes, often growing on the very edge of rock faults, especially preferring limestone. It tolerates well acidity (and salinity, as we have said) of soils. The shoots dropped to the ground instantly take root.
In species that grow in different climatic zones, there are serious differences in the vegetation process. In mid-April, buds bloom at dwarf willows in the Alps, and other varieties begin to grow by early May.
Despite the external similarity, these plants differ greatly from each other in the degree of pubescence of leaves and young shoots, as well as in the size of the trunk itself. So, S. reticulata, which grows in the Northern Urals, is characterized by rather long shoots, reaching 25 cm, and dark green leathery leaves.
Khibiny plants include dwarf-shaped willow, the shoots of which do not reach a significant value. Alpine species are even more miniature. They retain fluff on the bottom of the sheet for a long time.
All these shrubs grow very poorly, therefore, for rooting, it is better to use only young shoots, since the stiff ones practically do not root. Best plants grow and take root from the Northern Urals. So, in three years they reach the same size as the Khibiny specimens in 11 years.
Regardless of the species, dwarf willow (the photo of which is in the article) is extremely resistant to pests, frost and lack of nutrients in the soil.
