Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
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Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa'
Tortured Willow
Salicaceae
Garden escape. Along streams. North from Wollongong. Occasionally elsewhere. Doubtfully naturalised in the ACT.
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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