the shore and the Salix babylonica

Salix babylonica (Peking Willow or Babylon Willow) is a species of willow native to dry areas of northern China, but cultivated for millennia elsewhere in Asia, being traded along the silk road to southwest Asia and Europe.

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 to protect agricultural land from desert winds.

It has also been introduced into many other areas, but has not generally been successful in cultivation outside of China, being very short-lived and unsightly due to canker diseases in the more humid climates in much of Europe and North America. It is particularly susceptible to the canker disease Willow Anthracnose (Marssonina salicicola) and to late spring frosts.[4][5]


[edit] Weeping Willows
Early Chinese cultivar selections include the original Weeping Willow Salix babylonica 'Pendula', in which the branches and twigs are strongly pendulous. However, most Weeping Willows outside of China are hybrids between this cultivar, and either of White Willow Salix alba (Salix × sepulcralis Simonk.) and Crack Willow Salix fragilis (Salix × pendulina Wenderoth), which are better adapted to the more humid climates of most heavily populated regions of Europe and North America. The most widely grown Weeping Willow cultivar is Salix × sepulcralis 'Chrysocoma', with bright yellowish shoots.[4][5]


[edit] Etymology
The scientific name babylonica derives from a misunderstanding by Linnaeus that it was the tree described in the Bible in Psalm 137, "By the rivers of Babylon, ... hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof ...". However, the tree named gharab in early Hebrew, is now known to have referred to Populus euphratica, only later (by the time of the Protestant Reformation bible translators) also coming to refer to willows.( WIKIPEDIA)

Szomoru fűzfa
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(növ., árva fűz vagy bánatos fűz, Salix Babylonica L. a. m. babiloni fűz, S. pendula Moench, S. propendens Ser.), gyásztermetü, hosszu és nagyon hajlékony vesszős fűzfa. 3-10 m. magas, koronája terjedelmes, festői, gyakran karélyos. Levele keskeny, lándsás, hosszan és kissé ferdén elhegyesedik, aprósan fogas, a vissája deres. Barkája karcsu, görbült, kéthimes, tokocskája egészen kopasz. Ázsia közép, extratropikus részén, nevezetesen Persia északi tájain és a Kaukázusban honos, innen ültették át Európába, Khinában meg Japánba, Afrika déli részére, Szt.-Ilona szigetére, Új-Hollandiába és Észak-Amerikába is.
A fűzfafélék fa- és cserjealakban egész hazánkban szórványosan vagy kisebb csoportokban találhatók. A sok fajnak több közös tulajdonsága van.

Termőhelyi igényükre jellemző, hogy csaknem minden faj patakok, folyók, tavak partján található. Fényigényesek.