Eastern Cottonwood

Eastern Cottonwoods are abundant along the Creekside Trail and in open areas along the Quarry Trail. Cottonwoods occur in wet areas and old fields but cannot tolerate the harsh conditions of the quarry bottom. One of the unique features of cottonwoods is how their leaves move when the wind blows.  Even if there’s just the slightest breeze, the leaves are always in motion.  It’s easy to tell the cottonwoods apart from the other trees because you can almost always see their leaves waving in the breeze.

Classsification:
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Salicaceae (willow family)
Genus species: Populus deltoides

Leaves:
Triangular in shape, hence the species name deltoides
Coarse teeth around entire edge of leaf
Shiny green with red petiole
Leaves are 7 to 15 cm across at base
Petiole is flattened sideways so leaves are always moving evein in the slightest breeze

Bark:
Yellowish-green and smooth on young trees
Thick, deeply furrowed as tree ages

Flowers:
Catkins, 5 to 9 cm long, brown
Male and female flowers are on separate trees (dioecious)
Flowers appear before leaves in spring

Fruit:
Seeds are borne on cottony structures, wind-dispersed
1 cm long, elliptical capsules
Brownish, mature and split into four parts
Capsule contains many tiny cottony seeds

Habitat:
Streamsides and wet soils in valleys.
Often co-occurs with willows.
Can establish in open fields and floodplains

Range:
Southern Alberta east to extreme southern Quebec and New Hampshire, south to northwestern Florida, east to western Texas and north to central Montana.

Common Uses and Interesting Facts:

The cottonwood tree gets its name from the cottony seeds that the tree produces.

Wood is used for boxes, crates, furniture, plywood, matches and pulpwood.

Often used as a shade tree. Trees grow very quickly.

Sources

written by Bryan Helm; edited by Vanessa Artman

Photo credits: Vanessa Artman

Little, E.L. 1998. National Audubon Society field guide to North American trees, Eastern Region. Knopf Publishers, New York. 714 pages.

wikipedia.org

 



The cottonwood leaf is triangular in shape and
has coarse teeth along its entire edge. The leaf's petiole is often red.


One of the distinctive features of cottonwoods is the
movement of their leaves in the wind.  The petioles of their
leaves are flattened sideways so that the leaves are more
likely to blow around in even a slight breeze. 


Another view of cottonwood leaves


A closeup view of the coarse teeth
along the edge of the cottonwood leaf