This is the common form of a weeping willow that is planted all around, and it is abundantly common in the northern USA and southern Canada. It is a hybrid of the White Willow of Europe (Salix alba) of the cultivar of 'Vitellina' with yellow twigs with the Chinese Babylon Weeping Willow (Salix babylonica). Saplings or rooted cuttings of the Babylon Chinese Weeping Willow were taken along the Silk Road in ancient times into central Asia and the Middle East and made it to Europe at least by the early 1700's. Then somehow, it hybridized with the European tree. The Golden Weeping Willow has yellow twigs and branchlets. The narrow leaves are very white below. It is fast growing and brittle-wooded, dropping twigs and branches all each year long. I think that all the trees growing in the US & Canada are male plants, easily propagated by cuttings. From nurseries the scientific name is usually still listed as Salix alba 'Tristis' or 'Niobe.'

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