Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa'
Common name
Tortured Willow
Family
Salicaceae
Where found
Garden escape. Along streams. North from Wollongong. Occasionally elsewhere. Doubtfully naturalised in the ACT.
Notes
Introduced weeping tree to 15 m high with a short single trunk. Bark pale grey-brown, shallowly fissured with age. Upper branches, twigs and shoots weeping, strongly overlapping. Twigs at first densely hairy, soon hairless and lustrous, green to dark greenish-brown. Leaves alternating down the stems, 8–13 cm long, 10–25 mm wide, strongly twisted, surfaces finally hairless, margins toothed, tips gradually tapering to a point. Male and female flowers on separate plants. Female plants only known. Individual flowers with 0 petals, in dense-flowered cylindrical clusters (catkins) 10–20 mm long, on short leafy shoots. Catkin scales pale yellow-green. No seeds produced. Flowers Aug.–Oct.
A Weed of National Significance. General Biosecurity Duty with additional restrictions all NSW. Pest plant ACT.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Salix~matsudana~cv.+;qu;Tortuosa;qu; (accessed 4 February, 2021)
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