Peking Willow
Encyclopedia
Salix babylonica is a species of willow
native to dry areas of northern China
, but cultivated for millennia elsewhere in Asia
, being traded along the Silk Road
to southwest Asia and Europe
.
tree, growing up to 20-25 m tall. It grows rapidly, but has a short lifespan. The shoots are yellowish-brown, with small buds. The leaves
are alternate and spirally arranged, narrow, light green, 4-16 cm long and 0.5-2 cm broad, with finely serrate margins and long acuminate
tips; they turn a gold-yellow in autumn. The flower
s are arranged in catkin
s produced early in the spring; it is dioecious
, with the male and female catkins on separate trees.
garden in Hartekamp
in The Netherlands
.
selections include the original weeping willow, Salix babylonica 'Pendula', in which the branches and twigs are strongly pendulous, which was presumably spread along ancient trade route
s. These distinctive trees were subsequently introduced into England
from Aleppo
in northern Syria
in 1730. These plants are all females, readily propagated vegetatively
, and capable of hybridizing with various other kinds of willows, but not breeding true from seed.
Two cultivated hybrids between pendulous Salix babylonica and other species of willow (Salix) also have pendulous branchlets, and are more commonly planted than S. babylonica itself:
Cultivars derived from either of these hybrids are generally better adapted than S. babylonica itself to the more humid climates of most heavily populated regions of Europe and North America.
. The only reported difference between the two species is that S. matsudana has two nectaries in each female flower, whereas S. babylonica has only one; however, this character is variable in many willows (for example, crack willow [Salix fragilis] can have either one or two), so even this difference may not be taxonomically significant.
and the southeastern United States
, but beyond China it has not generally been as successfully cultivated as some of its hybrid derivatives, being sensitive to late-spring frosts. In the more humid climate
s of much of Europe
and eastern North America
, it is susceptible to a canker
disease, willow anthracnose (Marssonina salicicola), which makes infected trees very short-lived and unsightly.
Various cultivars of Salix matsudana (Chinese willow) are now often included within "Salix babylonica", treated more broadly, including:
Yet other weeping willow cultivars are derived from interspecific Salix hybrids including S. babylonica in their parentage. The most widely grown weeping willow cultivar is Salix × sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma', with bright yellowish branchlets.
in northern China, and is also grown for wood
production and shelterbelts there, being particularly important around the oases
of the Gobi Desert
, protecting agricultural land from desert winds.
that this willow (Salix) was the tree described in the Bible
in the opening of Psalm 137
(here in Latin and English translations):
Here, "salicibus" is the dative plural of the Latin noun salix, the willows, used by Linnaeus as the name for the willow genus Salix.
Despite these Biblical references to "willows", whether in Latin or English, the trees that were growing in Babylon
along the Euphrates River in ancient Mesopotamia
(modern Iraq
) and named gharab in early Hebrew
, are not willows (Salix) in either the modern or the classical sense, but the Euphrates poplar (Populus euphratica), with willow-like leaves on long, drooping shoots, in the related genus
Populus. Both Populus and Salix are in the plant family Salicaceae
, the willow family.
These Babylonian trees are correctly called poplars, not willows, in the New International Version
of the Bible (English, 1978):
Willow
Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
native to dry areas of northern China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, but cultivated for millennia elsewhere in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, being traded along the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
to southwest Asia and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Description
Salix babylonica is a medium- to large-sized deciduousDeciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
tree, growing up to 20-25 m tall. It grows rapidly, but has a short lifespan. The shoots are yellowish-brown, with small buds. The leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are alternate and spirally arranged, narrow, light green, 4-16 cm long and 0.5-2 cm broad, with finely serrate margins and long acuminate
Leaf shape
In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...
tips; they turn a gold-yellow in autumn. The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are arranged in catkin
Catkin
A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated but sometimes insect pollinated . They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged closely along a central stem which is often drooping...
s produced early in the spring; it is dioecious
Plant sexuality
Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes morphological aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....
, with the male and female catkins on separate trees.
Taxonomy
Salix babylonica was described and named scientifically by Carolus Linnaeus in 1736, who knew the species as the pendulous-branched ("weeping") variant then recently introduced into the CliffordClifford
Clifford may refer to:* Clifford , an English given name and surname, includes a list of people with that name-Places:Ireland*Clifford, DublinEngland*Clifford, Herefordshire**Clifford Castle*Clifford, West YorkshireUnited States...
garden in Hartekamp
Hartekamp
Hartekamp, or Hartecamp, is the name of a villa in Heemstede, the Netherlands, on the Bennebroek border. It was once the summer home of George Clifford, who employed Linnaeus in 1737 to write his Hortus Cliffortianus, a detailed description of the gardens of Hartecamp.-History:The house was built...
in The Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Horticultural selections and related hybrids
Early Chinese cultivarCultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
selections include the original weeping willow, Salix babylonica 'Pendula', in which the branches and twigs are strongly pendulous, which was presumably spread along ancient trade route
Trade route
A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a single trade route contains long distance arteries which may further be connected to several smaller networks of commercial...
s. These distinctive trees were subsequently introduced into England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
from Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
in northern Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
in 1730. These plants are all females, readily propagated vegetatively
Vegetative reproduction
Vegetative reproduction is a form of asexual reproduction in plants. It is a process by which new individuals arise without production of seeds or spores...
, and capable of hybridizing with various other kinds of willows, but not breeding true from seed.
Two cultivated hybrids between pendulous Salix babylonica and other species of willow (Salix) also have pendulous branchlets, and are more commonly planted than S. babylonica itself:
- Salix × pendulina, a hybrid with S. babylonica accepted as the female parent, but with the male parent unidentified, probably being either S. euxina or S. × fragilis, but perhaps S. pentandra. Of these possibilities, S. × fragilis is itself a hybrid, with S. alba and S. euxina as parental species.
- Salix × sepulcralis, a hybrid between S. alba and S. babylonica.
Cultivars derived from either of these hybrids are generally better adapted than S. babylonica itself to the more humid climates of most heavily populated regions of Europe and North America.
Relation to Salix matsudana
A similar willow species also native to northern China, Salix matsudana (Chinese willow), is now included in Salix babylonica as a synonym by many botanists, including the Russian willow expert Alexey SkvortsovAlexey Skvortsov
Alexey K. SkvortsovA Russian botanist and naturalist, a specialist on amentiferous plants—willows , poplars , and birches as well as plants of the evening primrose family , A.K...
. The only reported difference between the two species is that S. matsudana has two nectaries in each female flower, whereas S. babylonica has only one; however, this character is variable in many willows (for example, crack willow [Salix fragilis] can have either one or two), so even this difference may not be taxonomically significant.
Cultivation
Salix babylonica, especially its pendulous-branched ("weeping") form, has been introduced into many other areas, including EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the southeastern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, but beyond China it has not generally been as successfully cultivated as some of its hybrid derivatives, being sensitive to late-spring frosts. In the more humid climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
s of much of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and eastern North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, it is susceptible to a canker
Canker
Canker and anthracnose are general terms for a large number of different plant diseases, characterised by broadly similar symptoms including the appearance of small areas of dead tissue, which grow slowly, often over a period of years. Some are of only minor consequence, but others are ultimately...
disease, willow anthracnose (Marssonina salicicola), which makes infected trees very short-lived and unsightly.
Cultivars
Salix babylonica (Babylon Willow) has many cultivars, including:- 'Babylon' (synonym: 'Napoleon') The most widely grown cultivar of S. babylonica itself, with its typical weeping branches
- 'Crispa' (synonym: 'Annularis') A mutant of 'Babylon' with spirally curled leaves
Various cultivars of Salix matsudana (Chinese willow) are now often included within "Salix babylonica", treated more broadly, including:
- 'Pendula' One of the best weeping trees, with a silvery shine, hardier and more disease resistant.
- 'Tortuosa' Upright tree with twisted and contorted branches.
Yet other weeping willow cultivars are derived from interspecific Salix hybrids including S. babylonica in their parentage. The most widely grown weeping willow cultivar is Salix × sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma', with bright yellowish branchlets.
Uses
Peking Willow is a popular ornamental treeOrnamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
in northern China, and is also grown for wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
production and shelterbelts there, being particularly important around the oases
Oasis
In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...
of the Gobi Desert
Gobi Desert
The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the...
, protecting agricultural land from desert winds.
Origin: China, not Babylon
The epithet babylonica in this Chinese species' scientific name (Salix babylonica), as well as the related common names "Babylon willow" or "Babylon weeping willow", derive from a misunderstanding by LinnaeusCarolus Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
that this willow (Salix) was the tree described in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
in the opening of Psalm 137
Psalm 137
Psalm 137 is one of the best known of the Biblical psalms. Its opening lines, "By the rivers of Babylon..." have been set to music on several occasions....
(here in Latin and English translations):
- From the Clementine VulgateSixto-Clementine VulgateVulgata Sixto-Clementina, is the edition of Latin Vulgate from 1592, prepared by Pope Clement VIII. It was the second edition of the Vulgate authorised by this Pope, and it was used until the 20th century.- Clementine edition :...
(Latin, 1592):
-
Super flumina Babylonis illic sedimus et flevimus, cum recordaremur Sion.
- In salicibus in medio ejus suspendimus organa nostra....
- From the King James Version (English, 1611):
-
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
- We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
- From the Revised Standard VersionRevised Standard VersionThe Revised Standard Version is an English translation of the Bible published in the mid-20th century. It traces its history to William Tyndale's New Testament translation of 1525. The RSV is an authorized revision of the American Standard Version of 1901...
(English, 1952):
-
By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion
- On the willows there we hung up our lyres....
Despite these Biblical references to "willows", whether in Latin or English, the trees that were growing in Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
along the Euphrates River in ancient Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
(modern Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
) and named gharab in early Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, are not willows (Salix) in either the modern or the classical sense, but the Euphrates poplar (Populus euphratica), with willow-like leaves on long, drooping shoots, in the related genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Populus. Both Populus and Salix are in the plant family Salicaceae
Salicaceae
Salicaceae are a family of flowering plants. Recent genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has greatly expanded the circumscription of the family to contain 55 genera....
, the willow family.
These Babylonian trees are correctly called poplars, not willows, in the New International Version
New International Version
The New International Version is an English translation of the Christian Bible. Published by Zondervan in the United States and by Hodder & Stoughton in the UK, it has become one of the most popular modern translations in history.-History:...
of the Bible (English, 1978):
-
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion
- There on the poplars we hung our harps.