WILLOW
(a) Heb. “saph’phah” (Ez. 17:5). It is a tree of the genus “salix”, of which several species are known in Israel.
(b) Heb. «’arabãh», which appears in the Bible in the form pl. «’arabîm». It was with branches from this and other trees that the tabernacles were to be made during the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:40).
It grew next to watercourses (Is. 44:4). The hippopotamus took refuge under its branches (Jb. 40:17). The exiles in Babylon hung their harps from this tree (Ps. 137:2).
In the LXX and the Vulgate it is translated as willow. It is possible that it is the weeping willow (“Salix babylonica”) that is abundant along the Euphrates.