Cottonwood
Populus deltoides
Traditional Indigenous Names 8
Cree: Tasékátik
Dakota: Wagha chan
Summary from Wikipedia 9
Populus deltoides, the eastern cottonwood or necklace poplar, is a cottonwood poplar native to North America, growing throughout the eastern, central, and southwestern United States, the southernmost part of eastern Canada, and northeastern Mexico. It is a eudicot.
Easy identifiers 8
Cottonwood leaves have a unique shape, a flat or sometimes heart shaped base that rounds out and ends in a sharp point, often appearing triangular. Cottonwood tree trunks can split into large limbs near the ground, and their bark is deeply furrowed. In the early summer, the fruit of Cottonwood trees split open and white fluff is released everywhere, sometimes sticking to the fruit and tree.
Form 8
A large deciduous tree with a conical crown of spreading to ascending branches; sometimes the trunk will divide near the ground and its massive limbs will form a broad open crown.
Bark 8
Smooth, yellow-green; older bark deeply furrowed, scaly and grey at the base.
Twigs 8
Alternate, stout, smooth, shiny, often four-sided or ridged, greenish-brown. Terminal bud sharp-pointed, about 2 cm (3/4 inch) long, chestnut or greenish-brown, smooth, shiny, very gummy, outer scales hairy at base; lateral buds similar, about 13 millimetres (1/2 inch) long. Leaf scars roughly elliptical, light greenish-brown; bundle scars in three prominent groups. Lenticels common, elongated, straw-coloured.
Leaves 8
Alternate, simple, triangular, with coarsely rounded teeth, somewhat hairy, 5 - 10 millimetres (2 - 4 inches) long and about the same width, stalk flattened near base of leaf.
Flowers 8
Before leaves, in drooping catkins.
Fruit 8
A capsule about 8 - 12 millimetres (1/3 inch) long in catkins.
Occurrence 8
Southern Manitoba, along riverbanks.
Fun facts 8
Cottonwood trees are a beaver's favorite tree, they like to use it for their dams and also to eat. Cottonwood grow in nearly all provinces in Canada and their wood is used for plywood and pulpwood.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Manitoba Forestry, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Manitoba Forestry
- (c) Matt Lavin, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/plant_diversity/5027343104/
- (c) easmith2, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by easmith2
- (c) Matt Lavin, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/plant_diversity/5027341520/
- (c) JanetandPhil, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/30979614@N07/3583262655
- (c) John Lillis, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), https://www.flickr.com/photos/25080113@N06/3603297473/
- (c) Dendroica cerulea, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/dendroica/40694026760/
- (c) Manitoba Forestry, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
- Adapted by Manitoba Forestry from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populus_deltoides
More Info
- iNat taxon page
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- Atlas of Living Australia
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- Calflora
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- eFloras.org
- Flora of North America (beta)
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
- Go Botany
- HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
- IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
- Jepson eFlora
- Maryland Biodiversity Project
- NatureServe Explorer 2.0
- New Zealand Plant Conservation Network
- OregonFlora.org
- SEINet Symbiota portals
- Tropicos
- USDA PLANTS database
- VASCAN by Canadensys
- World Flora Online
