Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides)

A deciduous tree from the Willow Family (Salicaceae)

Eastern Cottonwood, a type of Poplar that is present throughout all of Ohio, is a tree native to portions of the Eastern United States, but makes its greatest impact in the Midwest, Great Plains, and south central United States. It is almost as massive as Sycamore in terms of its girth and broad-spreading canopy. It frequents floodplains and river bottoms, but can also be planted in the driest of soils and survive to produce adequate shade. Its mature trunk has extremely thick bark, so thick that it can survive forest fires with only some outer bark loss. Its triangular leaves flutter in the slightest breeze, as do those of most Poplars. It commonly reaches 80 feet tall by 60 feet wide, but can be much larger. As a member of the Willow Family, it is related to the Willows and other species of Poplar.

Planting Requirements- Eastern Cottonwood prefers moist or wet, deep soils of variable quality and pH in which to thrive. However, it adapts surprisingly well to harsh conditions, especially poor, dry soils, and for this reason it is prized in the Great Plains and south-central United States as a tree that tolerates perpetual drought and still gets large enough to cast significant shade. It is found in zones 3 to 9, in full sun to partial sun.

Potential Problems- Eastern Cottonwood has a host of pests (including borers and caterpillars) and diseases (including the major pathogens that are trunk cankers) that afflict its health. However, most trees grow with great vigor and do not have serious problems until they reach a large size, when lightning or wind begin to take their toll

Leaf Identification Features

Eastern Cottonwood has alternate leaves that easily flutter in the wind, because their distinctily triangular (or deltoid) shape has a flattened (or truncate) base and a long, flat petiole.

Leaves are dark green in summer, and fade throughout the autumn to poor shades of light green, yellow, and brown; in fact, they often shrivel during drought periods in late summer and begin to drop prematurely before autumn arrives.

Other Identification Features

Eastern Cottonwood, a dioecious species, has its pendulous male and female flowers on separate trees. The large male flowers (upper left) shed abundant amounts of pollen in early spring (and can have bright gold, green, or red flowers).

The female flowers eventually give rise to chains of immature green fruits (upper right).

In late spring and early summer, the fruit capsules open to release their small seeds attached to many cotton-like strands (lower left). It is the continuous release of these fluffy seeds for two to three weeks that results in the common name of "Cottonwood".

The bark of Cottonwood is smooth to lightly fissured and silvery white when young, but quickly changes to a brownish gray with maturity, developing very deep fissures between the rounded to flattened vertical ridges (lower right). Mature Cottonwood bark is among the thickest of all trees in North America.