Summary Post- and pre-dormant reproductive buds from a female tree of Salix tetrasperma and a male tree of S babylonica were cultured on a chemically defined basal medium supplemented with different concentrations of NAA, kinetin and GA3. Although post- as well as pre-dormant buds of S. tetrasperma could sprout on all the media, female catkins attained full development only on kinetin supplemented media failing which they got atrophied in primordial form. Such atrophied catkin primordia could, however, develop into normal catkins if these were excised and cultured on kinetin supplemented medium. While post-dormant buds of S. babylonica sprouted and formed male catkins on all media, the pre-dormant ones exhibited healthy sprouting and catkin development only in the presence of kinetin in the medium. Whereas catkins of both the species produced from post-dormant buds were fertile, those produced from the pre-dormant buds remained sterile as the floral meristems (which developed into flowers in the post-dormant buds) remained quiescent.