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The trees growing in Babylon along the Euphrates River in biblical times were probably poplars ( Populus euphratica) which are not willows but are in the willow family. The specific epithet means of Babylon and was given to this tree by Carl Linnaeus who mistakenly believed it to be the biblical willow of Babylon instead of a tree from China that was likely transported westward beginning in biblical times along the Silk Road trade route from China through central Asia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, eventually finding its way into Europe by the early 1700s. Genus name is the Latin name for this plant. babylonica are primarily hybrids or mistakenly identified similar species.
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Some experts believe that the true species no longer exists in the wild in China and that plants being sold today under the name S. Variable fall color is usually an undistinguished greenish-yellow. Narrow, lanceolate, finely-toothed leaves (to 6” long and 3/4” wide) with long acuminate apices are light green above and gray-green beneath. Flowering catkins appear in April-May, but are not showy. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers appearing in silvery green catkins (to 1” long) on separate male and female trees. This weeping willow can be a spectacular specimen at the edge of a pond with its branches gracefully weeping down to touch the water, however, it is often very difficult to site this tree in a residential landscape. Many consider this tree to have the best form of the weeping willows available in commerce.
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It grows to 30-50’ (sometimes to 60’) tall and as wide.
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Salix babylonica, commonly called weeping willow or Babylon weeping willow, is a medium to large deciduous tree with a stout trunk topped by a graceful broad-rounded crown of branches that sweep downward to the ground.
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