This species is also called red willow by Native Americans according to The Arctic Prairies Appendix E by Ernest Tompson Seton.

This plant is typically a large, fast-growing, multiple-stemmed shrub or small, shrubby tree capable of forming dense, colonial thickets.

It can be found in loose, saturated soils such as that on riverbanks, lake sides, swamps, marshes, and bogs.

[2] Leaves are alternately arranged, simple, and ovate in shape, widest near the midrib and narrowing to a tapering base and pointed tip.

Female flowers yield spherical seeds covered in long, threadlike fibers that help them disperse on the wind.