Range: Asia and Europe and naturalized in eastern United States.
Soil and location: Prefers moist places near streams and ponds.
Enemies: None of importance.
Value for planting: The weeping willow has a special ornamental effect in cemeteries and along lakes and river banks in parks.
Commercial value: It is used in the United States for charcoal and for fuel.
Comparisons: The pussy willow (Salix discolor) may easily be told from the other willows by its small size; it is often no higher than a tall shrub. Its branches are reddish green and the buds are dark red, smooth and glossy. The predominating color of the twigs and buds in the pussy willow is therefore a shade of red, while in the weeping willow it is yellowish green.
[Group VII. Trees Told by Their Bark or Trunk: Sycamore, Birch, Beech, Blue Beech, Ironwood, and Hackberry]
How to tell them from other trees: The color of the bark or the form of the trunk of each of the trees in this group is distinct from that of any other tree.
How to tell them from each other: In the sycamore, the bark is mottled; in the white birch, it is dull white; in the beech, it is smooth and gray; in the hackberry, it is covered with numerous corky warts; in the blue beech, the trunk of the tree is fluted, as in [Fig. 54], and in the ironwood, the bark peels in thin perpendicular strips.