This Week in Iowa Nature

Clear patches of ice along frozen creeks reveal bubbles, swimming fish, moving water, colorful leaves, and stones.

Jean C. Prior and James Sandrock, The Iowa Nature Calendar

Plant of the Week: Jan 13

Prairie willow

Salix humilis Marsh.
other common names
: small pussy willow, 
upland willow, low 
willow, bush willow
Salix: the classical Latin name for this widespread genus
Humilis: from Latin, meaning “low,” in reference to the low-growing habit of this species. (This species frequently hybridizes with several others of the genus, especially the pussy willow, S. discolor.)
Willow family: Salicaceae

Photograph by Thomas Rosburg, Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie: The Upper Midwest, Second Edition