''Populus deltoides'', the eastern cottonwood or necklace poplar, is a species of cottonwood poplar native to North America, growing throughout the eastern, central, and southwestern United States as well as the southern Canadian prairies, the southernmost part of eastern Canada, and northeastern Mexico.

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, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

growing to tall and with a trunk up to diameter, one of the largest North American

hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

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 growth of in height and in diameter per year for 25 years is common. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

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 Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

, with the

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s (

catkin A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster (a spike), with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind- pollinated ( anemophilous) but sometimes insect-pollinated (as in '' Salix''). It contains many, usually unisexual flowers, arra ...

s) 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 (), first recorded in ancient India, 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 ...

-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 In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

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

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

and

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

) 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 people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

). *''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 a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, and

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

) to the central United States and south to northern

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

and

. It is the state tree of

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

. *''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 is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

south through

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

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. GRIN records its presence in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

; the Jepson ''Flora of California'' does not.Jepson Flora
''Populus''
clicking 'next taxon' through the genus shows no entry for this taxon Some sources identify this subspecies by the epithet "''wislizenii''"; per ICN article 60C.2, the spelling is with one "i".

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 stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s, with mud banks left after

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, 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 of significant con ...

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

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s of various

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

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 (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 Beatrice () is a city in and the county seat of Gage County, Nebraska, Gage County, Nebraska, United States. Its population was 12,261 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Nebraska, 15th most populous cit ...

and measures tall, wide. *The US national champion ''Populus deltoides'' var. ''monilifera'' is located in Ravalli County, Montana 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 List of counties in New Mexico, county in the U.S. state of New Mexico.

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 landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

in 1937. It became the state tree of

in 1947, and that of

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

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 Northern America