刺叶柳 ci ye liu

Salix brayi Ledebour.

Shrubs cushion-shaped. Branches brownish, glabrous. Leaf blade elliptic or obovoid, 0.5-2 × 0.4-1 cm, leathery, base rounded-cuneate or cuneate, margin sharply serrate, apex obtuse or acute, shiny. Flowering coetaneous or serotinous. Catkins densely flowered; peduncle 1-2 cm, leafy; bracts dull brown, obovate, densely villous. Male flower: stamens 2; anthers yellow. Fruiting catkin ca. 2 cm. Female flower: ovary cylindric, shortly stipitate; style 2-cleft. Capsule brownish, glabrous; stipe longer than gland. Fl. Jun-Jul.

Alpine tundra; 2700-2800 m. Xinjiang (Altay Shan) [N Mongolia, Russia (S Siberia)]

Also: Belyaeva, I. & A. Sennikov. 2008. Typification of Pallas' names in Salix. Kew Bull. 63: 277-287.