Cottonwood

Salicaceae

LIFE FORM: Tree

NATIVITY:Eastern North America

VEGETATIVE CHARACTERISTICS:

50 to 80 feet tall; triangular, simple, alternate leaves with serrate margins and flattened petioles; young stems yellowish or reddish, older trunk ash-gray.

FLOWERS:

Pendulous male catkins are bright red in early spring.

FRUIT/DISPERSAL AGENTS:

Seeds surrounded by white hairs that aid wind dispersal in late spring.

ECOLOGICAL PREFERENCE:

Vacant lots and rubble dump sites; freshwater wetlands, ponds and streams; riverbanks; railroad tracks with ballast substrate.

ENVIRONMENTAL FUNCTION:

Heat reduction in paved areas; salt tolerance along roadways; stream and river bank stabilization.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:

Tree is most conspicuous when shedding seeds; a tea from the inner bark was used by Native Americans to treat scurvy as well as a "female tonic."