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 matsudana female catkins on separate trees. The leaves are narrow, light green, around 4–10 cm long and 1–2 cm broad. The flowers are borne in catkins produced early in the spring The "Flora of China" recognizes three varieties within the species "Salix matsudana:" Many botanists, notably the Russian willow expert Alexei Konstantinovich Skvortsov, treat "Salix matsudana" as a synonym of the Peking willow "Salix babylonica", which, despite its botanical name, is also native to northern China. The only reported difference between the two is that "S. matsudana" has two nectaries in each female flower, whereas "S. babylonica" has only one; however