Description:

A handsome, naturalized tree with short trunk and broad, open, irregular crown of drooping branches.

Height:

30-40'.

Diameter:

2', sometimes much larger.

Leaves:

2 1/2-5" long, 1/4-1/2" wide. Narrowly lance-shaped; with long-pointed tips; finely saw-toothed. Dark green above, whitish or gray beneath. Hanging from short leafstalks.

Bark:

Gray; rough, thick; deeply furrowed in long, branching ridges.

Twigs:

yellowish-green to brownish; very slender, unbranched, drooping vertically.

Flowers:

catkins 3/8-1" long; greenish; at end of short leafy twigs; in early spring; plants mostly female.

Fruit:

1/16" long; light brown capsules; maturing in late spring or early summer.

Habitat:

Parks, gardens, and cemeteries, especially near water.

Comments:

This willow is well known for its distinctive weeping foliage. It is among the first willows to bear leavs in spring and among the last to shed them in autumn. China, not Babylon, was its native home; when named, it was confused with Emphrates Poplar.