| Summary: | Background. In view of addressing the vital issue of mankind to preserve biodiversity of species, the
study of the polyvariety of life forms (biomorphs) of plants belonging to specific systematic groups is one of the
most significant problems in botany. The taxa characterized by a significant variety of their life forms are of particular
interest. These include the Salix L. genus being one of the largest and most difficult in a systematic way. To
date, the most extensively studied species are the following: xylorhizome and creeping shrubs, and suffruticous
willows in the Arctic, Hypo-Arctic, South Urals, North-East and Far East of Russia [3, 5–17, 19–24]. However, the
types of willows in the European part of Russia spread in the coniferous forests of the temperate zone of the
Northern hemisphere, i.e., temperate and boreal species of the two Salix and Vetrix Dum. subgenera, are not
completely studied from the standpoint of biomorphology to date. The goal of research is to specify the life-forms
of the boreal species of Salix and Vetrix willow subgenera and analyze the diversity of life forms of species of the
Salix genus growing on the territory of Russia. Materials and methods. The article deals with the analysis of works
on life forms of willows growing in Russia and covering the area from the European part to the Extreme North.
The existing types of life forms are given in the single system and supplemented with a new life form. Results. Due
to the polyvariety of the development, the species are characterized by not one but several life forms. Depending on the environmental conditions of the studied species of willows, different authors identified 22 life forms, 11 of
which are present in boreal species, among which “semi-aquatic long-xylorithic scrub” was specified for the first
time. Conclusion. Parallel series in variability of life forms of the willows species were outlined and the missing link
in these series – semi-aquatic long-xylorithic scrub – was described. From the total number of the studied species
of the Salix genus growing on the territory of Russia, the share of shrubs is 58 %, trees – 17 %, subshrubs – 25 %.
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