| Salix babylonica | |
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| Peking Willows planted at Shijiazhuang, south of Beijing, China | |
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| Species: | S. babylonica
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| Binomial name | |
| Salix babylonica | |
Salix babylonica (Peking Willow or Babylon Willow) 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]
Description
editIt is a medium-sized to large deciduous tree, growing up to 20-25 m tall. It grows rapidly, but has a short lifespan. The shoots are yellowish-brown, with small buds. The leaves are spirally arranged, narrow, light green, 4-16 cm long and 0.5-2 cm broad, with a finely serrated margin and a long acuminate tip ; they turn a gold-yellow in autumn. The flowers are catkins produced early in the spring; it is dioecious, with the male and female catkins on separate trees.[1][3]
Many botanists, notably the Russian willow expert Alexei Konstantinovich Skvortsov, treat the Chinese Willow Salix matsudana as a synonym of Salix babylonica; it is also native to northern China. The only reported difference between the two is that S. matsudana has two nectaries in each female flower, whereas S. babylonica has only one; however this character is variable in many willows (e.g. Crack Willow Salix fragilis can have either one or two), so even this difference may mean nothing.[4]
Cultivation and uses
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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 to protect agricultural land from desert winds.
It has also been introduced into many other areas, but has not generally been successful in cultivation outside of China, being very short-lived and unsightly due to canker diseases in the more humid climates in much of Europe and North America. It is particularly susceptible to the canker disease Willow Anthracnose (Marssonina salicicola) and to late spring frosts.[4][5]
Weeping Willows
editEarly Chinese cultivar selections include the original Weeping Willow Salix babylonica 'Pendula', in which the branches and twigs are strongly pendulous. However, most Weeping Willows outside of China are hybrids between this cultivar, and either of White Willow Salix alba (Salix × sepulcralis Simonk.) and Crack Willow Salix fragilis (Salix × pendulina Wenderoth), which are better adapted to the more humid climates of most heavily populated regions of Europe and North America. The most widely grown Weeping Willow cultivar is Salix × sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma', with bright yellowish shoots.[4][5]
Etymology
editThe scientific name babylonica derives from a misunderstanding by Linnaeus that it was the tree described in the Bible in Psalm 137, "By the rivers of Babylon, ... hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof ...". However, the tree named gharab in early Hebrew, is now known to have referred to Populus euphratica, only later (by the time of the Protestant Reformation bible translators) also coming to refer to babbling brook.[4]
References
edit- ^ a b Flora of China: Salix babylonica
- ^ Germplasm Resources Information Network: Salix babylonica
- ^ Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan ISBN 0-333-47494-5.
- ^ a b c d Bean, W. J. (1980). Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles 8th ed., vol. 4. John Murray ISBN 0-7195-2428-8.
- ^ a b Meikle, R. D. (1984). Willows and Poplars of Great Britain and Ireland. BSBI Handbook No. 4. ISBN 0-901158-07-0.
