Upright branching tree to more than 20 m tall with brittle twigs. Branchlets silky when young. Leaves mostly more than 8 cm long and widest below the middle, occasionally slightly hairy, long pointed, bluish below, teeth relatively large, irregular and hooked.
Eurasia
Naturalised in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.
Twigs brittle at the point of attachment to the branches. Differs from S. alba in having leaves mostly more than 8 cm long virtually hairless from the start, mostly widest below the middle and glossy above, the stalk 8-15 mm long with 2 glands at the top; leaves of S. alba are generally less than 8 cm long, silky hairy, at least at first, mostly widest below the middle and dull with age, its stalks mostly less than 1 cm long and without glands at junction of blade and stalk.
Many plants formerly known under this name are probably hybrids with S. alba and better referred to S. ×rubens.
Source: (1997). Salicaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
