COTTONWOOD (Populus deltoidea, Marsh). 60 to 100 feet. A tall, stately tree, with wide, irregular, open head, of massive limbs, that droop at extremities in many angular twigs, set in winter with large, flat, wax-sealed buds. Bark thick, ashy gray, deeply furrowed into rounded, scaly ridges. Wood dark brown, weak, compact, light weight, with thick, white sap wood; used for packing cases, fuel, and pulp. Leaves tri angular or heart-shaped, thick blade, with wavy, coarsely saw toothed margin, pale lining, on slender, flattened petiole.
Flowers in March, in pendent catkins of two sorts on same tree; staminate many, closely set with flowers, red; pistillate green, few on tree, catkins few-flowered. Fruits in May, in oval, a-valved capsules, filled with minute seeds embedded in fine cotton; seed clusters 10 to 12 inches long. Dist.: Moist ground, Canada to Gulf of Mexico; west to Colorado and New Mexico. Much planted for shade and windbreaks on prairie.