''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 United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

as well as the southern Canadian prairies, the southernmost part of eastern

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and northeastern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Description

''Populus deltoides'' is a large

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

growing to tall and with a trunk up to diameter, one of the largest North American hardwood trees. The bark is silvery-white, smooth or lightly fissured when young, becoming dark gray and deeply fissured on old trees. Bark_on_bole_of_mature_Eastern_Cottonwood

Bark_on_bole_of_mature_Eastern_Cottonwood

The twigs are grayish-yellow and stout, with large triangular leaf scars. The winter buds are slender, pointed, long, yellowish brown, and resinous. It is one of the fastest growing trees in North America. In Mississippi River bottoms, height growth of per year for a few years has been seen. Sustained height growth of height growth and diameter growth per year for 25 years is common. The leaves are large, deltoid (triangular), long and broad with a truncated (flattened) base and a petiole long. The leaf is very coarsely toothed, the teeth are curved and gland tipped, and the petiole is flat; they are dark green in the summer and turn yellow in the fall (but many cottonwoods in dry locations drop their leaves early from the combination of drought and leaf rust, making their fall color dull or absent). Due to the flat stem of the leaf, the leaf has the tendency to shake from even the slightest breeze. This is one of the identifying characteristics. It is dioecious, with the

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s ( catkins) produced on single-sex trees in early spring. The male (pollen) catkins are reddish-purple and long; the female catkins are green, long at pollination, maturing long with several seed capsules (samaras) in early summer, which split open to release the numerous small seeds attached to

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

-like strands. A single tree may release 40 million seeds a season.USGS Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains: A successful, simple, reproducible, high frequency micropropagation protocol has been described by Yadav Rakesh et al., 200
''Populus deltoides''
v-Plants (Chicago Herbarium)
''Populus deltoides''

Variation

The species is divided into three subspecies or up to five

varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

. The subspecies classification is as follows: *''Populus deltoides'' subsp. ''deltoides'', eastern cottonwood is found in southeastern Canada (the south of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

and

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

) and the eastern United States (throughout, west to

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

). *''P. d. monilifera'' (Aiton) Eckenw., the plains cottonwood (syn. ''P. deltoides'' var. ''occidentalis'' Rydb.; ''P. sargentii'' Dode) ranges from southcentral Canada (southern

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

, and

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

) to the central United States and south to northern

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

and

. It is the state tree of

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

. *''P. d. wislizeni'' (S.Watson) Eckenw., the Rio Grande cottonwood (syn. ''P. wislizeni'' (S.Watson) Sarg.; ''P. fremontii'' var. ''wislizeni'' S.Watson) grows from southern

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

south through

to northeastern Mexico ( Chihuahua, San Luis Potosi), and west to

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

(presence in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, listed by GRIN, is doubtful, not included in the Jepson ''Flora of California''Jepson Flora
''Populus''
clicking 'next taxon' through the genus shows no entry for this taxon)). (Note: Some sources mistakenly spell the epithet "''wislizenii''". Correct spelling is with one "i", per ICN article 60C.2.)

Ecology

It needs bare soil and full sun for successful germination and establishment; in natural conditions, it usually grows near

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

s, with mud banks left after

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

s providing ideal conditions for seedling germination; human soil cultivation has allowed it to increase its range away from such habitats. Unlike related species such as

quaking aspen ''Populus tremuloides'' is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America, one of several species referred to by the common name aspen. It is commonly called quaking aspen, trembling aspen, American aspen, mountain or golden aspen, tr ...

, it does not propagate through clonal colonies, but will resprout readily when cut down. The leaves serve as food for caterpillars of various Lepidoptera.

Uses

The wood of eastern cottonwood is typical of the ''Populus'' family in its softness, weighing just . It is utilized for things like plywood and interior parts of furniture. General Custer fed his horses and mules the bark during the 1868–69 winter campaign against Native American tribes south of Arkansas. According to Charles Goodnight, cowboys afflicted with gastric disorders would make an astringent tea from the inner bark.

Oldest and largest

Eastern cottonwoods typically live 70–100 years, but they have the potential to live 200–400 years in ideal conditions. The

Balmville Tree The Balmville Tree was an old-growth eastern cottonwood growing at the intersection of River Road, Balmville Road and Commonwealth Avenue in Balmville, New York, a hamlet within the Town of Newburgh. It was the oldest tree of that species in the ...

(felled in 2015 at approximately 316 years old) was the oldest eastern cottonwood in the United States. *The US national champion ''Populus deltoides'' var. ''deltoides'' is located in Beatrice, Nebraska and measures tall, wide. *The US national champion ''Populus deltoides'' var. ''monilifera'' is located in

Ravalli County, Montana Ravalli County is a county in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,174. Its county seat is Hamilton. Ravalli County is part of a north–south mountain valley bordered by the Sapphir ...

and measures tall, wide. *The US national champion ''Populus deltoides'' var. ''wislizeni'' is located in

Bernalillo County, New Mexico Bernalillo County () is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Mexico.Bernalillo Co ...

and measures tall, wide. The largest recorded cottonwood tree in the world is the Frimley Park tree located in Hastings, New Zealand and measures tall, wide and in girth. This cottonwood was planted in the 1870s.

Symbolism

Calling the cottonwood tree "the pioneer of the prairie", the Kansas state legislature designated the cottonwood the official state tree of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

in 1937. It became the state tree of

in 1947, and that of

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

since 1972.

References

External links

*
Video footage of Eastern Cottonwood
{{Authority control deltoides Symbols of Kansas Symbols of Nebraska Symbols of Wyoming Trees of Alberta Trees of humid continental climate Trees of Mexico Trees of Ontario Trees of Saskatchewan Trees of Eastern Canada Trees of the Eastern United States Trees of the Great Lakes region (North America) Trees of the North-Central United States Trees of the Northeastern United States Trees of the Northwestern United States Trees of the Plains-Midwest (United States) Trees of the South-Central United States Trees of the Southeastern United States Trees of the Southwestern United States Trees of the United States