Common name: Tortured Willow
Salix matsudana Koidz. 'Tortuosa' APNI* Synonyms: Salix babylonica var. pekinensis A.Henry APNI*
Description: Tree to 15 m high with a short single trunk; crown globose; bark pale grey-brown, shallowly fissured with age; upper branches and twigs weeping and contorted; twigs green-brown, densely villous at first becoming glabrous.
Leaves lanceolate, 8–13 cm long, 10–25 mm wide, strongly contorted; finally glabrous, margins regularly toothed.
Catkins female, densely flowered, on short leafy shoots, cylindrical, 1–2 cm long, becoming lengthened and ovaries developing to release aborted seed.
No seeds produced.
Distribution and occurrence: naturalised on the tablelands. A garden cultivar of Chinese Willow Salix matsudana, a species indigenous to China.
NSW subdivisions: *NT, *CT, ?ST
Other Australian states: *Vic.
A non-tortuose form of *S. matsudana has been hybridised with *S. alba in New Zealand to form clones of both sexes and are clones with bisexual catkins. Some of the clones have naturalised and others have produced hybrids with other species in N.S.W. (CT, ST) and Vic. (see S. matsudana x S. alba).
Text by S.W.L. Jacobs & L. Murray (2000)
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 1 Suppl. (2000)
| The single form in NSW. Characters and distribution as for the species in NSW. |
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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