Description
Keystone Value: The genus Populus (Cottonwood) supports over 350 species of butterfly and moth caterpillars, providing food for a variety of birds and mammals.
Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) is a large, deciduous tree that grows naturally along rivers in mud banks after floods. It is valued as a shade tree due to its fast growth rate – it is one of the fastest-growing trees in North America. Eastern Cottonwood is known as the “pioneer of the prairie,” and it is the state tree of Kansas, Wyoming, and Nebraska. The seed capsules of the female tree produce silky white hairs when they split open, hence the common name Cottonwood. In fall, the leaves turn an attractive gold-yellow. Eastern Cottonwood provides food and nesting material for birds and small mammals, and it is the larval host to the Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly (shown above), among others.
