Salix sepulcralis group Salix sepulcralis group The "Salix sepulcralis" group is a cultivar group containing all cultivars of hybrids between "Salix alba" and "Salix babylonica". The "sepulcralis" or × "sepulcralis" trees are sometimes referred to as white weeping willow or glaucous weeping willow in reference to the mixed appearance from the parent species. It was first described by L. Simonkai in 1890 from trees growing in Romania. The group contains both weeping and nonweeping cultivars, though the best-known of its cultivars is 'Chrysocoma', the most widely grown weeping tree.. Some of the cultivars are hybrids of "S. babylonica" var. "matsudana" 'Tortuosa' and have
Salix babylonica translations): Despite these Biblical references to "willows", whether in Latin or English, the trees 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): Salix babylonica Salix babylonica (Babylon willow