Salix babylonica grown weeping willow cultivar is "Salix × sepulcralis" 'Chrysocoma', with bright yellowish branchlets. Peking willow is a popular ornamental tree 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. The epithet "babylonica" in this Chinese species' scientific name "(S. babylonica)," as well as the related common names "Babylon willow" or "Babylon weeping willow", derive from a misunderstanding by Linnaeus that this willow was the tree described in the "Bible" in the opening of Psalm 137 (here in Latin and English
Salix nigra numerous minute, down-covered seeds. The leaves turn a lemon yellow in the fall. It is typically found along streams and in swamps. "Salix gooddingii" (Goodding's willow) is sometimes included in "S. nigra" as a variety, as "S. nigra" var. "vallicola" Dudley; when included, this extends the species' range to western North America. However, the two are usually treated as distinct species. Another name occasionally used for black willow is "swamp willow", not to be confused with "Salix myrtilloides" (swamp willow). According to the National Register of Big Trees, the largest black willow tree in the US is in Hennepin, Minnesota.