Salix triandra L.
S. amygdalina L.
Eng.: Almond willow, almond-leaved willow. Spa.: Sauce, sarga negra. Fre.: Saule-amandier, osier brun.
Deciduous shrub or small tree, dioecious, erect up to 6 m in height, but usually does not exceed 4 m. Trunk with greyish-brown bark, in older specimens it cracks and peels off into plates. Branches ± upright, elongated and flexible, brown or reddish, glabrescent. Branchlets slightly tomentose-silky to begin with, green or reddish. Buds glabrous. Leaves 2-13 × 0.5-3 cm, alternate, ± darker green on the upper side and lighter green almost glaucous on the underside; oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, serrated and glandular margin, completely glabrous or sometimes slightly pubescent on the underside. Stipules very characteristic, large, ± reniform or subcordiform, dentate, persistent. Petiole short, 0.5-1 cm, sometimes with glands close to the leaf blade. Inflorescence an erect ament, alternate, pedunculate, with hairy rachis, coeval or subcoeval, with bracts uniform in colour. Male flower with 2 nectaries and 3 free stamens. Female flower with 1 nectary and pedicellate glabrous ovary; peduncle longer than the nectary. Fruit a capsule dehiscent into 2 acute valves, curved backwards; seeds numerous, with long white hairs.
Flowering:
March to May.
Fruiting:
April to June.
Habitat:
Permanent water courses in areas with wet or humid bioclimate.
Distribution:
Eurasian temperate areas. In North Africa it is quite rare; in Algeria it is known only from some rivers and streams in the mountains of Blida, Annaba and El Kala; in Tunisia it grows only in the Thibar River (Tunisian Dorsal).
Conservation status:
Relatively common and widespread species. It is not considered threatened at a global level but in North Africa it is a species of a restricted distribution and with very few specimens. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In Algeria it is included in the List of protected non cultivated flora (Executive Decree 12-03 on 4-Jan-2012).