Sparkling wax crystals
I'm trying to show those in the first 7 photos.
These are mentioned by George Argus in his Alberta and Flora of N. America descriptions of S. prolixa, they are like minute diamond dust, you need to look with a hand lens or microscope to see them, but they are there!
The white peeling epidermis also seems to go along with the sparkling crystals, but he doesn't mention that. However, twigs peeling is mentioned at couplet 32 b in the Jepson Manual Online key.
http://floranorthamerica.org/Salix_prolixa
https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_keys.php?key=9887