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 amygdaloides Salix amygdaloides Salix amygdaloides, the peachleaf willow, is a species of willow native to southern Canada and the United States, from Quebec west to western British Columbia, southeast to eastern Kentucky, and southwest and west to Arizona and Nevada, respectively. It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree, growing to tall; besides the cottonwoods, it is the largest tree native to the prairies. It has a single trunk, or sometimes several shorter trunks. The leaves are lanceolate, long and wide, yellowish green with a pale, whitish underside and a finely serrated margin. The flowers are yellow catkins, long, produced in