Populus angustifolia
Common name:
Narrowleaf Cottonwood
Mountain Cottonwood
Pronunciation:
pop-U-lus an-gus-ti-FO-li-a
Family:
Salicaceae
Genus:
Type:
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
Yes
- Deciduous, medium sized tree, to 50-65 ft (15-20 m) high, slender with a narrow conical crown, thin ascending branches, rather willow-like. Bark whitish or yellowish-green, smooth, becoming furrowed on mature trunks. Leaves alternate, simple, narrow, lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, resembling willow, 5-9 cm long, 1.5-4 cm wide, widest at or below the middle, tapering and finely toothed to the tip, rounded to wedge-shaped at base, light yellowish-green above, paler and often resin stained below; petiole short and almost circular in cross section. Male catkins elongate to 2-3 cm and female catkins are 8-20 cm long at maturity, at which time they hold of about three fruits (capsules), each 5-8 mm long, containing many tiny seed with cottony hairs.
- Sun part shade. Often found along streams and on sand bars, a wetland species, it is not drought tolerant.
- Hardy to USDA Zone 3 Native range from southern British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan south to south-central California, Texas, and northern Mexico (Chihuahua). Common throughout Rocky Mountain region of western Montana, central and southern Idaho, and Colorado, can be found, but is uncommon, in Oregon (mostly in Steens Mountain in the extreme southeastern part of the state).
- angustifolia: narrow leaved