Part 44

Uses: Pulpwood, fuel.

Habitat: Bottomland woods, along streams.

Range: New Hampshire across to southeastern North Dakota, south central Texas, east to northern Florida.

Distinguishing Features: The Cottonwood is easily recognized by its triangular leaves with flattened leafstalks. The cottony seeds, when the fruits are mature, are also distinctive.

BIG-TOOTH ASPEN Populus grandidentata Michx.

Other Name: Large-tooth Aspen.

Growth Form: Medium tree to 60 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 1½ feet; crown rounded.

Bark: Grayish-green, smooth at first, becoming shallowly fissured and broken up into thin scales.

Twigs: Grayish-green, with numerous orange “dots,” hairy when young but becoming smooth; leaf scars alternate, raised, 3-lobed, each with 3 bundle traces.

Buds: Ovoid, pointed, chestnut-brown, somewhat hairy, up to one-eighth inch long.

Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades nearly circular in outline, short-pointed at the tip, rounded at the base, up to 5 inches long, nearly as broad, with several rather coarse teeth along the edges, green on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, smooth when mature; leafstalks up to 3 inches long, flat, enabling the leaf to rustle even in gentle breezes.

Flowers: Staminate and pistillate borne on separate trees, crowded together in catkins up to 5 inches long, appearing as the leaves unfold.

Fruit: Long, narrow, flask-shaped, green, slightly hairy capsules, grouped in elongated clusters, containing many seeds with cottony hairs attached.

Wood: Light weight, soft, pale brown.

Use: Pulpwood.

Habitat: Wooded slopes, edges of woods.

Range: Quebec across to Manitoba, south to central Illinois, east to Maryland; Kentucky and north-central Tennessee east to western North Carolina.

Distinguishing Features: The coarsely toothed, tremoring leaves and the grayish-green trunks combine to make this a tree easy to recognize.

SWAMP COTTONWOOD Populus heterophylla L.

Other Name: Swamp Poplar.

Growth Form: Up to 90 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 2 feet; crown very irregular, with a few, large, upright branches.

Bark: Gray or brown, smooth when young, becoming scaly ridged at maturity.

Twigs: Rather stout, smooth or hairy, reddish; leaf scars alternate, 3-lobed, each with 3 bundle traces; pith 5-angled.

Buds: Ovoid, pointed, dark brown, sticky, up to one-half inch long.

Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades ovate, rounded or bluntly pointed at the tip, heart-shaped at the base, up to 8 inches long, up to 6 inches broad, with rounded teeth along the edges, green on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, densely white-woolly when young, becoming essentially smooth at maturity; leafstalks to 4 inches long, smooth or sparsely hairy, not flattened.

Flowers: Staminate and pistillate borne on separate trees, the staminate crowded in thick catkins up to 4 inches long, the pistillate in slender catkins up to 6 inches long, both appearing before the leaves begin to unfold.

Fruit: Ovoid, reddish-brown capsules up to ½ inch long, grouped in elongated clusters, containing numerous seeds with cottony hairs attached.

Wood: Light weight, soft, pale brown.