[2] This species has secondary sexual dimorphism, with male and female individuals different in function or morphology in aspects other than their reproductive structures.

Unlike the seeds of many other willows, these do not germinate immediately on contact with the substrate, but overwinter under the snow and sprout in the spring.

[2] In the northern part of its range, this plant codominates with other species of willow on floodplains and in shrubby riparian and tundra habitat.

callicarpaea, for instance, is not found in Canada, and is common in eastern parts of Greenland, but absent from the west, whereas S. glauca subsp.

[2] Native Americans used parts of willows, including this species, for medicinal purposes, basket weaving, to make bows and arrows, and for building animal traps.