About Salix taxifolia Kunth
Salix taxifolia, commonly known as yewleaf willow or yew-leaf willow, is a species of willow. It is a large shrub or tree that bears narrow linear leaves similar to the leaves of a yew. Its geographic range is similar to that of Salix bonplandiana, the Bonpland willow, except S. bonplandiana covers almost the entire north-south extent of the Sierra Madre Occidentals, while yewleaf willow has a more intermittent distribution in that range.
The core native range of yewleaf willow covers all of southern Mexico, the Pacific Coast regions of Mexico north to Sinaloa, and extends from southern Mexico's Pacific coast into central Guatemala. This core range lies south of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Outside of this core range, two larger disjunct regions are found: one in northern Sierra Madre Occidentals spanning Arizona, New Mexico and northeast Sonora, and another in west Texas and central Chihuahua. South of the city of Chihuahua, Chihuahua, the species grows along the Conchos River, and west of the city it grows across a large area in the lake region. Isolated, scattered populations also grow in Durango, Sinaloa, northeast Mexican states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, and extreme southern Baja California Sur, which is west of Sinaloa-Durango across the Gulf of California. Yewleaf willow can also be found in parts of the Sierra Madre Occidental, the southern Sierra Madre Oriental cordillera, and small isolated locales as far northeast as the northeast Mexican states. Scattered populations have also been reported from northern Mexico and the US states of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
