Description

Leaves: Alternate; simple; deltoid to kidney-shaped; 3" to 6" long, 4" to 5" wide; deciduous; rounded teeth on margin; pointed, short apex; glabrous; turn bright gold in fall; petiole 1-1/2" to 3" long, flattened laterally, causing leaf to flutter in the wind.

Twigs/buds: Twigs yellow-brown and angular.  Terminal buds 3/4" long, pointed, shiny-brown, resinous, fragrant when crushed.

Flowers/fruit: Dioecious.  Fruit an oval capsule, 1/4" long, several together on a slender stalk like a string of beads; seeds tufted, small, light brown.

Bark: Light green, smooth on young trunks; on older trunks thick, gray, deeply furrowed with flat-topped ridges.

Wood: Fairly unimportant.  See eastern cottonwood for description.

General: Native from about the Wasatch Front south including lower-elevation river drainages (Green and Colorado Rivers) in southern Utah and throughout the Southwest.  Usually found naturally along streams.

Landscape Use: Rarely used and cultivars are not available, but it is a good, large cottonwood that would be worth having in the right setting.  Still, though, like all cottonwoods and poplars is weak-wooded and does not belong near lots of people or valuable property.  Zones 5-9.

Comments & Limitations:  Weak wood and/or branch structure.  Prefers abundant water.

Characteristics