Salix babylonica (Babylon willow or weeping willow; ) is a species of willow native to dry areas of northern China, Korea, Mongolia, Japan, and Siberia but cultivated for millennia elsewhere in Asia, being traded along the Silk Road to southwest Asia and Europe.

Description

Salix babylonica is a medium- to large-sized deciduous tree, growing up to tall. It grows rapidly, but has a short lifespan, between 40 and 75 years. The shoots are yellowish-brown, with small buds. The leaves are alternate and spirally arranged, narrow, light green, long and broad, with finely serrate margins and long acuminate tips; they turn a gold-yellow in autumn. The flowers are arranged in catkins produced early in the spring; it is dioecious, with the male and female catkins on separate trees.

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File:Saule pleureur chaton.jpg|Male flowers of Salix babylonica

Image:Willow Salix babylonica.jpg|Pendulous branchlets of Salix babylonica

File:Salix babylonica2.jpg|Bark of Salix babylonica

File:SalixBabylonicaLeaf.jpg|Leaves of Salix babylonica

File:Salso-chorão em Bagé-RS 04.jpg|In Brazil

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Taxonomy

Salix babylonica was described and named scientifically by Carl Linnaeus in 1736, who knew the species as the pendulous-branched ("weeping") variant then recently introduced into the Clifford garden in Hartekamp in The Netherlands.

A horticultural variant with twisted twigs and trunk, the corkscrew willow (S. matsudana var. tortuosa), is widely planted.

Cultivation

thumb|250px|[[Weeping Willow (painting)|Weeping Willow, by Claude Monet (1918)]]

Salix babylonica, especially its pendulous-branched ("weeping") form, has been introduced into many other areas, including Europe and the southeastern United States, but beyond China, it has not generally been as successfully cultivated as some of its hybrid derivatives, being sensitive to late-spring frosts. In the more humid climates of much of Europe and eastern North America, it is susceptible to a canker disease, willow anthracnose (Marssonina salicicola), which makes infected trees very short-lived and unsightly.

Cultivars

Salix babylonica (Babylon willow) has many cultivars, including:

  • 'Babylon' (synonym: 'Napoleon') is the most widely grown cultivar of S. babylonica, with its typical weeping branches.
  • 'Crispa' (synonym: 'Annularis') is a mutant of 'Babylon', with spirally curled leaves.

Various cultivars of Salix matsudana (Chinese willow) are now often included within Salix babylonica, treated more broadly, including:

  • 'Pendula' is a weeping tree, with a silvery shine, hardier, and more disease resistant.
  • 'Tortuosa' is an upright tree with twisted and contorted branches, marketed as corkscrew willow.

Other weeping willow cultivars are derived from interspecific Salix hybrids, including S. babylonica in their parentage.