Salix babylonica (Babylon willow or weeping willow; Chinese: 垂柳; pinyin: chuí liǔ) is a species

of willow native to dry areas of northern China, but cultivated for millennia elsewhere in Asia, being
traded along the Silk Road to southwest Asia and Europe.[1][2]

Contents

 1Description
 2Taxonomy
o 2.1Horticultural selections and related hybrids
o 2.2Relation to  Salix matsudana
 3Cultivation
o 3.1Cultivars
 4Uses
 5Origin: China, not Babylon
 6Notes
 7References
 8Further reading

Description[edit]
Salix babylonica is a medium- to large-sized deciduous tree, growing up to 20–25 m (66–82 ft) 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, 4–16 cm long
and 0.5–2 cm 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.[1][3]

Male flowers of Salix babylonica

 

Pendulous branchlets of Salix babylonica
  

Bark of Salix babylonica

 

Leaves of Salix babylonica

Taxonomy[edit]
Salix babylonica was described and named scientifically by Carolus 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.[4]

Horticultural selections and related hybrids[edit]

"Weeping willow" redirects here. For other uses, see Weeping Willow.
Hybrid weeping willows (Salix × sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma') in December, with pendulous yellow branchlets
(Central Park)
Early Chinese cultivar selections include the original weeping willow, Salix babylonica 'Pendula', in
which the branches and twigs are strongly pendulous, which was presumably spread along
ancient trade routes.[4] These distinctive trees were subsequently introduced
into England from Aleppo in northern Syria in 1730,[5] and have rapidly become naturalised, growing
well along rivers and in parks. These plants are all females, readily propagated vegetatively, and
capable of hybridizing with various other kinds of willows, but not breeding true from seed. This type
of tree is grown very easily through plant propagation.
Two cultivated hybrids between pendulous Salix babylonica and other species of Salix willows also
have pendulous branchlets, and are more commonly planted than S. babylonica itself:

 Salix × pendulina, a hybrid with S. babylonica accepted as the female parent, but with the
male parent unidentified, probably being either S. euxina or S.  ×  fragilis, but perhaps S.
pentandra.[4][note 1] Of these possibilities, S. × fragilis is itself a hybrid, with S. alba and S. euxina as
parental species.[citation needed]
 Salix × sepulcralis, is a hybrid between S. alba and S. babylonica.[4]
Cultivars derived from either of these hybrids are generally better adapted than S. babylonica to the
more humid climates of most heavily populated regions of Europe and North America.[6][7]

Relation to Salix matsudana[edit]

A similar willow species also native to northern China, Salix matsudana (Chinese willow), is now
included in Salix babylonica as a synonym by many botanists, including the Russian willow
expert Alexey Skvortsov.[4][6] The only reported difference between the two species is S.
matsudana has two nectaries in each female flower, whereas S. babylonica has only one; however,
this character is variable in many willows (for example, crack willow, Salix fragilis, can have either
one or two), so even this difference may not be taxonomically significant.[6]

Cultivation[edit]
Weeping Willow, by Claude Monet (1918)
S. 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.[6][7]

Cultivars[edit]
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.[4]
 '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 one of the best weeping trees, with a silvery shine, hardier, and more disease
resistant.
 'Tortuosa' is an upright tree with twisted and contorted branches.
Yet other weeping willow cultivars are derived from interspecific Salix hybrids, including S.
babylonica in their parentage.[4] The most widely grown weeping willow cultivar is Salix ×
sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma', with bright yellowish branchlets.[6][7]

Uses[edit]
Peking willow is a popular ornamental tree in northern China, and is also grown for wood production
and shelterbelts there, being particularly important around the oases of the Gobi Desert, protecting
agricultural land from desert winds.[citation needed]

Origin: China, not Babylon[edit]

The epithet babylonica in this Chinese species' scientific name (S. babylonica), as well as the related
common names "Babylon willow" or "Babylon weeping willow", derive from a misunderstanding
by Linnaeus that this willow was the tree described in the Bible in the opening of Psalm 137 (here in
Latin and English translations):

 From the Clementine Vulgate (Latin, 1592):

Super flumina Babylonis illic sedimus et flevimus, cum recordaremur Sion.
In salicibus in medio ejus suspendimus organa nostra....
Here, "salicibus" is the dative plural of the Latin noun salix, the willows, used by Linnaeus as
the name for the willow genus Salix.

 From the King James Version (English, 1611):

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

 From the Revised Standard Version (English, 1952):

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion
On the willows there we hung up our lyres....
Despite these Biblical references to "willows", whether in Latin or English, the trees
growing in Babylon along the Euphrates River in
ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and named gharab in early Hebrew, are not
willows (Salix) in either the modern or the classical sense, but the Euphrates
poplar (Populus euphratica), with willow-like leaves on long, drooping shoots, in the
related genus Populus.[5][6] Both Populus and Salix are in the plant family Salicaceae,
the willow family.
These Babylonian trees are correctly called poplars, not willows, in the New
International Version of the Bible (English, 1978):
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion
There on the poplars we hung our harps.

Notes[edit]
1. ^ The names Salix euxina and Salix × fragilis as used here follow current
(2011) classifications of Salix;[citation needed] Santamour and McArdle called these
species Salix fragilis and Salix × rubens, respectively.

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b Flora of China: Salix babylonica
2. ^ "Salix babylonica". Germplasm Resources Information
Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS),  United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 15 December 2017.
3. ^ Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan ISBN 0-
333-47494-5.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g Santamour, F.S. & McArdle, A.J. (1988). Cultivars of Salix
babylonica and other Weeping Willows. Journal of Arboriculture 14: 180-184
5. ^ Jump up to:a b Barnes, Burton V. & W.H. Wagner Jr.  (2004). Michigan Trees: A
guide to the trees of the Great Lakes region (revised and updated). Ann Arbor,
Michigan: The University of Michigan Press. pp. x + 448 pp.  ISBN  978-0-472-
08921-5.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f Bean, W. J. (1980). Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British
Isles 8th ed., vol. 6. John Murray ISBN 0-7195-2428-8.
7. ^ Jump up to:a b c Meikle, R. D. (1984). Willows and Poplars of Great Britain and
Ireland. BSBI Handbook No. 4. ISBN 0-901158-07-0.