Description: Large, spreading shrub with multiple stems, red-barked when young, clusters of small white flowers followed by small whitish fruit; rarely a small tree.

Height: Usually 1-3m, occasionally to 5m

Diameter: up to 7 cm

Leaves: opposite; 4-9 × 1.5-5 cm. Elliptical or ovate, short- or long-pointed, entire; five to seven long, curved, sunken veins on each side of midvein. Dull green above, whitish green and finely pubescent below, turning reddish in autumn.

Bark: purplish-red and pubescent at first on slender young shoots, which have rings at the nodes. Becoming grey or brown with age, smooth or slightly furrowed into flat plates.

Flowers: 3-5 cm wide, flattish, upright, clusters of many crowded flowers, each 6 mm wide with 4 spreading white petals. In late spring to early summer.

Fruit: 6-10 mm diameter, whitish, juicy, with two-seeded stone, maturing in late summer.

Habitat: Moist soils, especially along streams where it forms thickets; also in understory of coniferous forests. California plant communities Yellow Pine Forest (m14), Red Fir Forest (m15) and Lodgepole Forest (m16).

Range: Central Alaska east to Labrador and Newfoundland, south to N Virginia, and west to California; also north Mexico. To 1500m in the north, 2750m in the south.

One of the most common and widespread riparian shrubs across the northern part of the continent. It is useful for erosion control on riverbanks. As indicated by the epithet stolonifera, the shrub proliferates by tip layering - forming extensive thickets. The common name relates to the similarity of the reddish young twigs to osiers used in basketry. These same shoots, showy in winter, especially if pruned annually, encourage its use as an ornamental shrub. Most common for this purpose in the UK is a yellow-stemmed cultivar 'Flavarimea' - indeed, so common is this variety that the red-stemmed type is almost impossible to obtain.

Information: Audubon (1980)

Source: Rockcliff by Jordanelles reservoir, Utah (cuttings); Weasdale Nurseries, Newbiggin-on-Lune

Purchased: One plant of cultivar 'Flavarimea', mainly in the hope of its reverting to type, or setting usable seed which might produce red-stemmed offspring.

Planted: autumn 1996, I think.

Progress: Four cuttings from Utah were brought back in 1995, but failed to root, even with bottom heat. Our aim is to grow only plants representative of natural populations, but red-stemmed examples seem almost unobtainable in the UK, possibly because they offer no advantage over european species for those only interested in appearance rather than authenticity.

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