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 fragilis frequently with the type. It is a smaller shrubby tree, rarely exceeding tall, with completely hairless leaves up to 9 cm long and 2–3 cm broad. According to some botanists, it is a distinct species (treated as "Salix decipiens" Hoffm.), with, in this view, "S. fragilis" then being a hybrid between "S. decipiens" and "S. alba". Some other botanists regard "S. decipiens" as itself being a hybrid between "S. fragilis" and "S. triandra". Little evidence supports either of these suggestions. It readily forms natural hybrids with white willow "S. alba" in Europe and Asia, the hybrid being named "Salix" ×