"Bright red colors are prominent in coloration of shoots and young buds. Buds are rather broad, lanceoloid or ovoid, more or less appressed to shoots during the winter" (Skvortsov 1960). Skvortsov further comments that this set of characters makes this American willow different from its counterparts in the Old World-- S. pentandra and S. pentandroides . (In January, remaining live tissue at base of buds gives us a hint of the color typical for young buds in the fall.)