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 lucida and Asia. Salix lucida Salix lucida, the shining willow, Pacific willow, or whiplash willow, is a species of willow native to northern and western North America, occurring in wetland habitats. It is a deciduous large shrub or small tree growing to tall. The shoots are greenish-brown to grey-brown. The leaves are narrow elliptic to lanceolate, 4–17 cm long and 1-3.5 cm broad, glossy dark green above, usually glaucous green below, hairless or thinly hairy. The flowers are yellow catkins 1–9 cm long, produced in late spring after the leaves emerge. The subspecies are: It is closely related to "Salix pentandra"