Populus deltoides
Common name:
Eastern Cottonwood
Pronunciation:
pop-U-lus del-TOY-dez
Family:
Salicaceae
Genus:
Type:
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
No
- Deciduous tree, 75-100+ ft, (23-30 cm), pyramidal to vase with age. Bark is ash-gray and divided into thick ridges. Terminal buds 0.6-2 cm long with 6-7 visible scales, lateral bud, somewhat smaller, more or less flatened, appressed. Leaves alternate, simple, deltoid-ovate, or broad-ovate, 7-12 cm long and about as broad, tip acuminate, base subcordate to truncate, margin coarsely crenate-dentate with curved teeth, glabrous, bright green; petiole 6-10 cm long, flattened laterally, this allows the leaf to flutter in the slightest breeze. Flowers dioecious - male and female trees- in pendulous catkins, 7-10 cm long, appearing before leaves. Mature fruit (seed) catkins 15-25 cm long, containing many capsules, each 8-12 mm long, splitting into 3-4 parts when mature, releasing tufted seeds, the white "cotton" seen at dispersal time.
- Sun, prefers moist situations, but tolerates dry soils, saline conditions, and is very pH adaptable. Short-lived.
- Hardy to USDA Zone 2 Native range from Quebec to North Dakota, Kansas, Texas, and Florida.
- deltoides: deltoid, triangular, shaped liked the Greek capital letter delta (Δ)
- Oregon State Univ. campus: a row at the eastern edge of lower campus, to the west of 9th St. and north of Madison Ave.