Japanese botanist Shunsuke Kusano first collected Salix kusanoi in Shuishe at Sun Moon Lake. This is the origin of its Chinese name, "Shuishe willow." Bunzo Hayata described the plant and identified it as a Taiwanese endemic species in 1911.
●水社柳：日人草野俊助於日月潭水社部落採集，故以「水社」命名；日本植物學者早田文藏於 1911 年發表為台灣特有種。