Eastern Cottonwood Tree

Introduction

Cottonwood Tree

Eastern cottonwood tree, one of many largest eastern hardwoods, is short-lived but the fastest-growing commercial forest species in North America. It grows best on moist well-drained sands or silts near streams, often in pure stands. The lightweight, rather soft wood is used primarily for core stock in manufacturing furniture and for pulpwood.

Eastern cottonwood tree has become the few hardwood species that is planted and grown specifically for these purposes. Besides the typical eastern variety (var. deltoides), there exists a western variety, plains cottonwood (var. occidentalis). Its leaves, more broad than long, are slightly smaller and more coarsely toothed compared to the typical variety.

Some scientists identify three subspecies of eastern cottonwood. Such as angulata, a southern strain, missouriensis, a central or intermediate strain, and monilifera, a northern strain. These divisions are based upon minor variations in morphological traits.

Distribution

Eastern cottonwood tree grows along streams and on bottom lands from southern Quebec westward into North Dakota and southwestern Manitoba, south to central Texas, and east to northwestern Florida and Georgia. The north-south distribution extends from latitude 28° N. to 46° N. It is absent through the higher Appalachian areas and from much of Florida and also the Gulf Coast except along rivers. The western boundary is not well defined because eastern cottonwood intergrades with var. occidentalis, plains cottonwood, where the ranges overlap. Title itude is usually a primary determiner of the western boundary.

Characteristic

Cottonwood Tree Fruits

Eastern cottonwood tree is often planted to provide quick shade near homes. Male clones, that are fitted with none of the objectionable "cotton" regarding seed, are preferred. Windbreaks are occasionally established with cottonwood as a component. Cottonwood is suitable for soil stabilization where soil and moisture conditions are adequate, as along stream or ditch banks. Deep planting permits reforesting of nonproductive fields with sandy soils having available moisture beneath a dry surface layer. There was considerable desire for cottonwood for energy biomass, due to the high yield potential and coppicing ability. There has also been desire for growing it for inclusion in cattle feed, because it is a good source of cellulose relatively totally free of undesirable components, like tannins. The new growth is high in protein and minerals.

Pests

Leafminers are insects that develop and live around the leaves of plants. Typically, the foliage is injured by the insect feeding within the soft interior tissues so that just the papery, thin covering of the exterior leaf surfaces remain. Cottonwood tree blackmine blotch leafminer: This beetle larva produces an unusually dark and distinctive blotch leafmine. The yellow and black adult beetle are available chewing and skeletonizing small areas in the exterior leaf surface from late June through July. Additionally lay eggs in those times. Later the larvae initiate mines.

Growing

Seed Production and Dissemination- Seed production starts once the trees are 5 to 10 years of age, increasing rapidly in amount since the trees become older and larger. Estimates of annual seed creation of a single open-grown tree have been up to 48 million seeds.

Cottonwood Tree seeds

Seed dispersal follows flowering by a couple of months in southern populations and a somewhat shorter period in the North. It is actually characterized by considerable variation among trees as well as a lengthy dispersal period for some individual trees. Seed dispersal is carried out in May through mid-July within the South and June through mid-July in the North. The dispersal pattern results in abundant deposits of seeds along water courses as spring flood waters recede. Seeds could be carried several hundred feet by the wind, together with the "cotton" linked to the seed. Seeds falling in water may be carried long distance with the parent tree before being left on silt deposits. 

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