爆竹柳 bao zhu liu

Trees to 20 m tall; trunk to 1 m d.b.h.; bark dark, furrowed; crown globose or oblong. Branchlets brownish green, stout, glabrous, shiny, at first pubescent, glabrescent, brittle. Buds oblong, apex acute. Stipules present or absent; petiole 2-7 mm, pubescent or glabrous, apex glandular; leaf blade lanceolate or broadly lanceolate, 8-10 × 1-1.6 cm, abaxially pale, glabrous, adaxially dull green, shiny, pubescent along midvein, base cuneate, margin glandular serrate, apex acuminate. Male catkin 3-5 cm × 4-6 mm; peduncle ca. 1 cm, with 0-3 leaflets; rachis pubescent; bracts yellow or dull yellow. Male flower: glands adaxial and abaxial; stamens 2; filaments sometimes pubescent at base; anthers yellow. Female catkin unknown. 2n = 76, rarely 38, 114.

Naturalized. Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Nei Mongol [native to Europe]

A. K. Skvortsov doubts the presence of Salix fragilis in China because specimens he saw under this name from NE China belong to S. pierotii.

Planted for reforestation