Habitat

• native to China
• zone 5, warmer parts of 4

Habit and Form

• medium sized deciduous tree
• rounded shape
• 40' to 50' tall
• with similar width
• fine texture
• fast growth rate

Summer Foliage

• alternate leaf arrangement
• lanceolate, simple leaves
• serrated leaf margins
• bright green leaf color
• smooth leaf top, glabrous leaf bottom

Autumn Foliage

• yellow-green
• not ornamentally important

Flowers

• male flowers showy

Fruit

• not ornamentally important

Bark

• stems are yellowish in youth
• stems mature into on olive-green or brown
• glabrous

Culture

• fast growing
• easily transplanted form containers are B&B
• prefers moist soil
• prefers to grow along water sources
• full sun
• pH adaptable
• short lived
• salt tolerant

Landscape Use

• good tree for wet sites
• for unusually branching effect
• for medium texture
• for flowers
• for salt tolerance

Liabilities

• numerous insect and disease problems
• suckers
• short-lived

ID Features

• olive-green branches
• alternate leaf arrangement
• serrated leaf margins
• generally found on wet sites
• flowers bottle-brush like

Propagation

• by cuttings
• by seed

Cultivars/Varieties

'Golden Curls' - This hybrid plant is more shrubby than 'Tortuosa', with distinctive yellowish stems that are contorted and twisted. It often is shrubby in habit, though it may form a small tree with semi-pendulous branches. The leaves are also curled on this plant.

'Navajo' (probably the same as 'Umbraculifera') - This plant forms a medium-sized tree with a broad, rounded crown. It can grow to 40' tall and wide.

'Pendula' - This tree has weeping branches and bright green young stems.

'Snake' - Marketed as an improved form of 'Tortuosa', this plant is said to possess greater branch contortions and disease resistance. The two plants appear difficult to distinguish, however.

'Tortuosa' - Known as the "Dragon's Claw Willow", this is a rather popular tree that possesses strongly twisted and coiled branches. It can form a rounded-irregular tree 30' tall, and the young stems are yellowish. Among the plants grown for contorted growth, this is perhaps the most vigorous.