Willow are very cross-compatible, and numerous hybrids occur, both naturally and in cultivation. A well-known ornamental example is the weeping willow ("Salix × sepulcralis"), which is a hybrid of Peking willow ("Salix babylonica") from China and white willow ("Salix alba") from Europe. The hybrid cultivar 'Boydii' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Numerous cultivars of "Salix" L. have been developed and named over the centuries. New selections of cultivars with superior technical and ornamental characteristics have been chosen deliberately and applied to various purposes. Most recently, "Salix" has become an important source for bioenergy production and for
Salix 'Chrysocoma' Salix 'Chrysocoma' "Salix" × "sepulcralis" <nowiki>'Chrysocoma'</nowiki>, or Weeping Golden Willow, is the most popular and widely grown weeping tree in the warm temperate regions of the world. It is an artificial hybrid between "S. alba" 'Vitellina' and "S. babylonica". The first parent provides the frost hardiness and the golden shoots and the second parent the strong weeping habit. This cross was originally made at the Späth Nursery (Berlin, Germany) and was first mentioned in their 1888 nursery catalogue as "S. vitellina pendula" nova. Being a cultivar from the Chrysocoma Group, which includes all crosses between "S. alba" and "S. babylonica",