Salix discolorMuhl.

pussy willow

WFO wfo-0000928583 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Salix discolor, photographed by Zac Peterson
fig. a Zac Peterson, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-04-23 / obs. 190336021
Salix discolor, photographed by Alexis Williams
fig. b Alexis Williams, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187998388
Salix discolor, photographed by Desiree L. Narango
fig. c Desiree L. Narango, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 186438731
Salix discolor, photographed by Ryan Sorrells
fig. d Ryan Sorrells, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 169686302
Salix discolor, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. e Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 159822684
Salix discolor, photographed by Henry "Nick" Robertson
fig. f Henry "Nick" Robertson, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 137486856
Salix discolor, photographed by Cassidy Best
fig. g Cassidy Best, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 127586714
Salix discolor, photographed by Mary Krieger
fig. h Mary Krieger, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 126814932

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 40 botanical countries

Regions where Salix discolor is native: Alberta, British Columbia, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Labrador, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Newfoundland, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward I., Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming AlbertaBritish ColumbiaColoradoConnecticutIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKentuckyLabradorMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMissouriMontanaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNewfoundlandNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaOhioOntarioPennsylvaniaPrince Edward I.QuébecSaskatchewanSouth DakotaVermontWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming DelawareRhode I.
Native distribution of Salix discolor, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alberta ABT NORTHERN AMERICA
British Columbia BRC
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kentucky KTY
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
Newfoundland NFL
North Carolina NCA
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Prince Edward I. PEI
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Vermont VER
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 239 in flower of 639 examined

Peak flowering in Apr. Each bar is the share of Salix discolor observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 239 of 639 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 2 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 8 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Salix ancorifera Fernald
  • Salix discolor var. discolor
  • Salix discolor var. overi C.R.Ball
  • Salix discolor var. prinoides (Pursh) Andersson
  • Salix fuscata Pursh
  • Salix prinoides Pursh
  • Usionis fuscata (Pursh) Raf.
  • Vimen prinoides (Pursh) Raf.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.