Salix matsudana in New Jersey Invasive Species Strike Team

Common Name: Chinese willow, corkscrew willow
Family Name: Salicaceae - Willow
Species Code: SAMA
Native Range: Asia
NJ Status: Emerging Stage 0 – Absent or very rare. It is on our "Watch List" because it may become threatening to native communities.

General Description

• upright spreading deciduous tree
• grows to a height of up to 40 feet
• canopy has a spread of 15 feet
• most easily recognized by its highly contorted and twisted branches and twigs
• bark is smooth and greyish brown with diamond-shaped lenticels
• its shallow, fast-growing roots can damage utility lines, foundations, and sidewalks, it hybridizes with other willows, and it sprouts readily from cuttings

Leaves

• alternate, 2 to 4 inches long
• shiny green on top, whitish underneath, turn yellow in fall
• linear, lanceolate and finely serrated

Flowers

• pale yellow-green fuzzy 1 to 1.5 inch catkins

Fruit

• one-inch clusters of inconspicuous light brown capsules containing numerous small fuzzy seeds
• ripen in late spring

Habitat

• medium to wet soils
• Full sun to part shade

Commercially Available

Yes

Look-alikes

• weeping willow (Salicaceae Salix babylonica)
• black willow (Salicaceae Salix nigra)

Control Recommendations

Foliar Spray: FS-1

• Glyphosate 3.75%, Triclopyr Amine 2.50%
• Please see our Herbicide Use Suggestions and Mixing Guide for more information

Basal Bark: BB-1

• Triclopyr Ester 25% OR Pathfinder II ready-to-use mixture
• Please see our Herbicide Use Suggestions and Mixing Guide for more information
• Apply from July through September to enhance effectiveness