DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Salix planifolia ssp. pulchra | Diamondleaf Willow 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Diamondleaf willow grows throughout most of Alaska and the Yukon
Territory.  It also occurs in the northwestern Northwest Territories,
and in northwestern British Columbia.  It is not found south of latitude
56 degrees N in British Columbia [5].

The two varieties are distributed as follows [1]:

  var. pulchra - Generally throughout most of Alaska but absent from the
                 Aleutian Islands and southern coastal Alaska from
                 Prince William Sound eastward.  Uncommon in the Yukon
                 Territory and the Tanana River Lowlands. 

  var. yukonensis - Common in the Yukon, Tanana, and Kuskokwim river
                    valleys and their tributaries.  Also in the northern
                    and southern Yukon Territory, Northwest
                    Territories, and northern British Columbia. 


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES11  Spruce - fir
   FRES44  Alpine


STATES : 
     AK  BC  NT  YT


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     DENA  LACL  WRST  YUCH


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
NO-ENTRY


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
NO-ENTRY


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   201  White spruce
   202  White spruce - paper birch
   203  Balsam poplar
   204  Black spruce
   254  Black spruce - paper birch


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Diamondleaf willow is a dominant or codominant in numerous sedge-shrub
tundra communities mostly north of the Brooks Range in Alaska.
Associated carices include aquatic sedge (Carex aquatilis), Bigelow
sedge (C. bigelowii), and shortstalk sedge (C. microchaeta).  Associated
willows include Richardson willow (Salix lanata) and netleaf willow (S.
reticulata).  It may also codominate shrubby tundra communities with
dwarf birches (Betula spp.), numerous huckleberries (Vaccinium spp.),
northern labrador-tea (Ledum palustre), Richardson willow, Alaska bog
willow (S. fuscescens), least willow (S. rotundifolia), and other
willows (Salix spp.) [15,34].  In interior Alaska, it is often a
component of seral willow communities on floodplain terraces, forming
thickets with grayleaf willow (S. glauca), Richardson willow, and alders
(Alnus spp.)  [34].

Published classifications listing diamondleaf willow as a dominant in
community types (cts) are presented below:

Area              Classification                   Authority

ne AK            general veg. cts               Hanson 1953
AK               general veg. cts               Viereck & Dyrness 1980

Related categories for Species: Salix planifolia ssp. pulchra | Diamondleaf Willow