Willow are very cross-compatible, and numerous hybrids occur, both naturally and in cultivation. A well-known ornamental example is the weeping willow ("Salix × sepulcralis"), which is a hybrid of Peking willow ("Salix babylonica") from China and white willow ("Salix alba") from Europe. The hybrid cultivar 'Boydii' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Numerous cultivars of "Salix" L. have been developed and named over the centuries. New selections of cultivars with superior technical and ornamental characteristics have been chosen deliberately and applied to various purposes. Most recently, "Salix" has become an important source for bioenergy production and for
Salix matsudana making it very short-lived and unsuitable for most of the purposes for which it is sold. Salix matsudana Salix matsudana, the Chinese willow, is a species of willow native to northeastern China. The species is named in honour of Sadahisa Matsuda, a Japanese botanist. Three varieties are recognized, "Salix matsudana" var. "anshanensis", "S. matsudana" var. "matsudana", and "S. matsudana" var. "pseudomatsudana". The species is widely cultivated in China, and a horticultural variant with twisted twigs and trunk, the corkscrew willow ("S. matsudana" var. "tortuosa"), is widely planted. "Salix matsudana" is a medium-sized to large, deciduous, upright, rapidly growing tree to