Cottonwood Giant Traditional Cache

The Cottonwood Giant is exactly 0.1 mile from two of my other caches. Isn't it a fantastic tree? This is a P & G.

Cottonwood

Populus section Aigeiros is a section of three species in the genus Populus, the poplars. Like some other species in the genus Populus, they are commonly known as cottonwoods.

The species are native to North America, Europe, and western Asia. In the past, as many as six species were recognized, but recent trends have been to accept just three species, treating the others as subspecies of P. deltoides.

Description

They are large, deciduous trees 20–45 m tall, distinguished by thick, deeply fissured bark and triangular-based to diamond-shaped leaves that are green on both sides (without the whitish wax on the undersides of balsam poplar leaves) and without any obvious balsam scent in spring. An important feature of the leaves is the petiole, which is flattened sideways so that the leaves have a particular type of movement in the wind.

Male and female flowers are in separate catkins, appearing before the leaves in spring. The seeds are borne on cottony structures that allow them to be blown long distances in the air before settling to ground.

The cottonwoods are exceptionally tolerant of flooding, erosion, and flood deposits filling around the trunk.

Although each of the three cottonwood species has a different leaf pattern, they all have the same general diamond leaf shape.

Populus deltoides

Eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) is one of the largest North  American hardwood trees, although the wood is rather soft. It is a riparian zone tree. It occurs throughout the eastern United States and in extreme southern Canada. The leaves are alternate and simple, with coarsely toothed (crenate/serrate) edges, and subcordate at the base. The leaf shape is roughly triangular, hence the species name, deltoides.

In the typical subspecies P. d. deltoides (Vermont south to northern Florida and west to about Michigan), the leaves are broad and triangular, 7–15 cm across at the base. Further west (Minnesota south to eastern Texas), the subspecies P. d. monilifera (plains cottonwood; syn. P. sargentii) has somewhat narrower leaves, 5–10 cm wide at the base. This is also the state tree of Nebraska, Wyoming and Kansas.In West Texas, and New Mexico, and Colorado, the subspecies P. d. wislizeni (Rio Grande cottonwood; syn. P. wislizeni) occurs.

Populus fremontii

Fremont’s cottonwood (Populus fremontii) is native to the southwestern United States and western Mexico. In the United States, the species can be found in California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado. In Mexico, it can be found in the states of Baja California,Baja California Sur, Sonora, Chihuahua, coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Mexico State, and Puebla. It differs from the eastern cottonwood mainly in the leaves having fewer, larger serrations on the edge, and small differences in the flower and seed pod structure. Some taxonomists formerly considered P. fremontii to be a subspecies of P. deltoides.

Populus nigra

Black Poplar (Populus nigra) is native to Europe and Western Asia, is distinct in its much smaller leaves, 5–11 centimetres (2.0–4.3 in) across, with a more rhombic (diamond) shape.

Cottonwood and sandhills cranes in wetland in fall, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, NM. Credit: Robert Dunn

Cultivation and uses

Cottonwoods are widely grown for timber production along wet river banks, where their exceptional growth rate provides a large crop of wood within just 10–30 years. The wood is coarse and of fairly low value, used for pallet boxes, shipping crates, and similar purposes where a cheap but strong enough wood is suitable. They are also widely grown as screens and shelterbelts. Many of the cottonwoods grown commercially are the hybrid of eastern cottonwood and black poplar, Populus × canadensis (hybrid black poplar or Carolina poplar).

Cottonwood bark is often a favorite medium for artisans. The bark, which is usually harvested in the fall after a tree's death, is generally very soft and easy to carve.

Cottonwood is one of the poorest wood fuels; it does not dry well, and rots quickly. It splits poorly, because it is very fibrous. It produces a low level of energy per unit of volume of wood.

Eastern Cottonwood. The kind we have here.

Populus deltoides, the eastern cottonwood or necklace poplar, is a cottonwood poplar native to North America, growing throughout the eastern, central, and southwestern United States, the southernmost part of eastern Canada, and northeastern Mexico.

Description

Foliage

Populus deltoides is a large tree growing to 20–40 m (65–130 ft) tall and with a trunk up to 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) diameter, one of the largest North American hardwood trees. The bark is silvery-white, smooth or lightly fissured when young, becoming dark gray and deeply fissured on old trees. The twigs are grayish-yellow and stout, with large triangular leaf scars. The winter buds are slender, pointed, 1–2 centimetres (1⁄2–3⁄4 in) long, yellowish brown, and resinous. It is one of the fastest growing trees in North America. In Mississippi River bottoms, height growth of 10–15 feet (5–5 m) per year for a few years have been seen. Sustained height growth of 5-foot (1.5-meter) height growth and 1-inch (2.5-centimeter) diameter growth per year for 25 years is common.

The leaves are large, deltoid (triangular), 4–10 cm (1 1⁄2–4 in) long and 4–11 cm (1 1⁄2–4 1⁄4 in) broad with a truncated (flattened) base and a petiole 3–12 cm (1 1⁄4–4 3⁄4 in) long. The leaf is very coarsely toothed, the teeth are curved and gland tipped, and the petiole is flat; they are dark green in the summer and turn yellow in the fall (but many cottonwoods in dry locations drop their leaves early from the combination of drought and leaf rust, making their fall color dull or absent). Due to the flat stem of the leaf, the leaf has the tendency to shake from even the slightest breeze. This is one of the identifying characteristics.

It is dioecious, with the flowers (catkins) produced on single-sex trees in early spring. The male (pollen) catkins are reddish-purple and 8–10 cm (3 1⁄4–4 in) long; the female catkins are green, 7–13 cm (2 3⁄4–5 in) long at pollination, maturing 15–20 cm (6–7 3⁄4 in) long with several 6-to-15-millimeter (1⁄4-to-9⁄16-inch) seed capsules in early summer, which split open to release the numerous small seeds attached to cotton-like strands.

Populus deltoides subsp. deltoides, eastern cottonwood is found in southeastern Canada (the south of Ontario and Quebec) and the eastern United States (throughout, west to North Dakota to Texas)

Uses

Timber: The wood of eastern cottonwood is light, soft, and weak. It is not durable, warps badly in drying, and is difficult to season. It is used principally for containers, interior parts of furniture, corestock in plywood, and high-grade pulp. Erosion control: It is planted on strip mine spoils for erosion control and wood production. Male, nonhybrid adapted clones make good selections for windbreaks in multi-row installations. Recreation: Due to its rapid growth rate, it is frequently used for providing quick shade around recreational developments, campsites and picnic areas.

Landscape and beautification: This species is occasionally planted as an ornamental shade tree, however caution should be used because the tree grows large and is susceptible to wind and ice damage. 

Eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides), one of the 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 is one of the few hardwood species that is planted and grown specifically for these purposes.

The cache is a tied in, camoed, "small" pill bottle, that you have to push hard to open and close. Please BYOP and put everything back as you found them, including the camo.