Salix babylonica a gold-yellow in autumn. The flowers are arranged in catkins produced early in the spring; it is dioecious, with the male and female catkins on separate trees. "Salix babylonica" was described and named scientifically by Carolus Linnaeus in 1736, who knew the species as the pendulous-branched ("weeping") variant then recently introduced into the Clifford garden in Hartekamp in The Netherlands. Early Chinese cultivar selections include the original weeping willow, "Salix babylonica" 'Pendula', in which the branches and twigs are strongly pendulous, which was presumably spread along ancient trade routes. These distinctive trees were subsequently introduced into England from Aleppo in
Salix atrocinerea Salix atrocinerea Salix atrocinerea, commonly called grey willow or large gray willow, is a species of willow. It is a bush or small tree up to tall. As a pioneer species of willow, it quickly colonizes poor soils. The grey willow distribution is mostly Atlantic from Western Europe and North Africa to some Mediterranean islands, and in North Africa. Naturally growing in Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Tunisia, it is very common in the Iberian Peninsula, and is also found in Corsica. The species hybridizes readily with other species of willow and many hybrids have been identified. It flowers