Poplar belongs to trees. Trunk usually ends straight; Bark is smooth or longitudinally dehiscent, usually grayish white. There are terminal buds (Populus euphratica has no buds), and the bud scales are mostly sticky. Branches are long (including sprouted branches) and short, cylindrical or ridged. Leaves alternate, mostly ovoid, ovoid-lanceolate or triangular-ovoid, and often have different shapes and toothed edges on different branches (such as long branches, short branches and sprouting branches); Petiole long, lateral flat or cylindrical.
Although willow also belongs to trees or creeping, cushion-shaped, erect shrubs. But its branches are cylindrical and its pith is almost round. There is no terminal bud, the lateral buds are usually close to the branches, and the bud scales are single. Leaves alternate, sparsely opposite, usually narrow and long, mostly lanceolate, pinnately veined, serrated or entire; Petiole short; Stipules, serrated, usually early, sparsely persistent.
Poplar and willow have different distribution ranges. Poplar is mainly distributed in temperate and cold temperate forest species in the northern hemisphere. Willow is suitable for various ecological environments. Willow grows in mountains, plains, sand dunes and polar regions. Mainly distributed in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Salix matsudana is produced in the north, northeast and northwest plains of China. Weeping willows spread all over China and were introduced to many countries in Europe, Asia and America.
If you want to quickly distinguish poplar from willow, you only need to distinguish it from bud, leaf and bract. Willow buds are surrounded by scales, while willow has only one layer. Willow leaves are bigger and thinner. There are cracks on the bracts of willow trees, but not willow trees.