Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Salix babylonica
Common name
Weeping Willow, Peking Willow
Family
Salicaceae
Where found
Stream banks and around dams. Widespread.
Notes
Introduced deciduous tree to about 30 m high. Branchlets hanging down. Bark grey to grey-brown, deeply furrowed with age. Twigs initially hairy, soon hairless, yellow-brown to grey-brown. Leaves alternating down the stems, 5–18 cm long, 5–25 mm wide, more or less hairless, deep green above, somewhat glaucous to glaucous below; tips very long-pointed; margins shallowly toothed; stipules with stalkless glands at the base. Male and female flowers on different plants. Female flowers small, with 0 petals, in cylindrical many-flowered clusters (catkins), 6–28 mm long, about 5 mm in diameter, elongating slightly at the seeding stage, appearing with the new leaves. Male plants not in Australia. Seeds produced are either unfertilised or results of hybridisation with other species. Flowers Aug–Oct.
General Biosecurity Duty all NSW.
It is one of the few species of Salix that are not included in the Weeds of National Significance listing for this group. However it hybridises with many other willows, the resulting hybrids sometimes being very invasive.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Salix~babylonica (accessed 5 February, 2021)
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