Cottonwood trees

Cottonwood trees are the fastest growing hardwood tree in North America. The eastern cottonwood is Nebraska’s state tree. The black cottonwood is what we see around here. Black cottonwoods range from southeast Alaska down to Baja California, from the Pacific Northwest to the Dakotas. They usually grow along rivers and streams, avoiding dry ground.

Cottonwood genealogy goes back about 24 million years. They are in the populus family (with poplars and aspens). They can grow more than 200 feet tall and 6 feet in diameter. Their lifespan is about 200 years. 

To see the largest black cottonwood in the world that we know of, head to the Willamette Mission State Park, near Salem. It is noted on the park map and easy to spot.

If you walk along Amazon creek in Eugene, you’ll see many cottonwoods, next to their relations, the willow.

Even if you don’t know what the tree looks like, you’ve seen it’s cottony puffs of seeds blowing in the wind. Because they grow near water, these seed puffs, released by the female tree, often land in water and travel downstream, setting down roots in moist soil along the bank. 

If you want to see something interesting, pick up a cottonwood twig, cut it cleanly near a knuckle, straight across, and you will see a little five-point star plainly spreading out from the center.

The earliest forest tree plantings in this region were black cottonwoods placed along the Willamette river near Oregon City in 1901 to supply a local pulp mill. The tree is known for high quality paper making. Even though it is a hardwood tree, the wood is porous and considered weak and not used for high strength applications. It can be made into plywood, pulp, boxes, crates, pallets, and moulding. 

Though many see the cottonwood as a nuisance, a trash tree, it has given much to animals and people.

Trees: “They may all be meditating on their breath for the greater good.”

It was valued and used extensively by Native American people. It is called Paacko (Hopi); Wagachun (Lakota): Tiis (Navajo). It was used to make canoes, rope, fish traps, and baskets. The bark contains salicin, which was used to treat pain. The sap worked as a glue or to waterproof materials. 

The wood was used as a medium for carving sacred objects. The Pueblo people made prayer sticks using it. 

The cottonwood gave much help to the Lewis & Clark expedition. Local tribes showed them how to make dugout canoes. Fort Mandan was built from cottonwoods along the Missouri River. The horses used on the journey benefitted from the nutritious leaves, bark, and twigs, often choosing it over grass.

Leaves make sugar, which is the main food source for trees. Sugar is then stored in the roots and branches. 

Cottonwoods have a thick root system and are excellent for habitat restoration. Deer, elk, beaver, bats, and birds all benefit from its nutrients and shelter. It is often found in riparian areas with fungal decay creating great spots for birds. Osprey like to nest in them.

These trees have inspired many famous creative people. Georgia O’Keefe painted them in various seasons: “Cottonwood Trees in Spring,” “Dead Cottonwood,” and “Winter Cottonwoods East.”

O’Keefe said, “I wish all people were trees and I think I could enjoy them.”

Writer Beth Streeter Aldrich said, “I grew up under cottonwoods and I love them. They’re the happiest, merriest tress in the world. When everything else is still and doleful and pessimistic, they dance and laugh and twinkle. I think sometimes we don’t appreciate the things we’re used to… don’t see our commonest things the way they are.” 

We need the cottonwood tree, as we do most trees, as they are a key support to our planet’s health. Trees counter the increased amount of carbon dioxide trapped in our atmosphere. Sometimes called “the lungs of the earth,” trees take in carbon dioxide and return oxygen. They may all be meditating on their breath for the greater good. 

For more information about this tree, check out Kathleen Cains’s book: The Cottonwood Tree, An American Champion.

This article appears in the summer issue of Take Root magazine.