Salix babylonica but beyond China, it has not generally been as successfully cultivated as some of its hybrid derivatives, being sensitive to late-spring frosts. In the more humid climates of much of Europe and eastern North America, it is susceptible to a canker disease, willow anthracnose ("Marssonina salicicola"), which makes infected trees very short-lived and unsightly. "Salix babylonica" (Babylon willow) has many cultivars, including: Various cultivars of "Salix matsudana" (Chinese willow) are now often included within "Salix babylonica", treated more broadly, including: Yet other weeping willow cultivars are derived from interspecific "Salix" hybrids, including "S. babylonica" in their parentage. The most widely
Salix alba Pliny the Elder and others believed willow bark could ease aches and pains and reduce fevers. It has long been used in Europe and China for the attempted treatment of these conditions. This remedy is also mentioned in texts from ancient Egypt, Sumer, and Assyria. The first "clinical trial" was reported by Reverend Edward Stone, a vicar from Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire, England, in 1763 with a successful treatment of malarial fever with the willow bark. The bark is often macerated in ethanol to produce a tincture. The active extract of the bark, called salicin, after the Latin name "Salix",