- West Seattle – the oldest and the biggest of Seattle’s neighborhoods – is both a peninsula and a state of mind. The first Euro-American settlers arrived here (on Alki Point) in 1851, but left within a few months, moving to a more agreeable location on the other side of Elliott Bay (the site of present-day downtown Seattle). Orphaned at an early age, isolated by water on three sides, West Seattle has clung to its cultural independence, remaining determinedly aloof even while fighting tenaciously for the bridges, highways, and ferries that have brought it closer to its sprawling neighbor to the east.
- Salix sitchensis Sanson ex Bong. (plants.sc.egov.usda.gov)
Willow Family (Salicaceae). Salix sitchensis is a large shrub or small tree, six to twenty-five feet high. The leaves are alternate, oblonceolate or narrowly ovate, two to five inches long, and usually sharp-pointed. The flowers appear before or with the leaves, on short leafy shoots, males are five centimeters long, and the females are eight centimeters long (Pojar & MacKinnon 1994). The bark is smooth, slightly furrowed, and scaly.