Populus fremontii
Encyclopedia
Populus fremontii, the Fremont cottonwood or Alamo cottonwood, is a cottonwood poplar
native to western North America
, in California
(except Modoc Plateau) and east to Nevada
, Utah
, Arizona
, and New Mexico
, and south into Sonora
in northwestern Mexico
. It grows in riparian areas
near streams
, rivers, spring
s, wetlands, and alluvial bottomlands in the Southwestern United States
, and into northwestern Mexico, below 2000 metres (6,561.7 ft) elevation.
growing from 12 metres (39.4 ft) - 35 metres (114.8 ft) in height with a wide crown, with a trunk up to 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) in diameter. The bark
is smooth when young, becoming deeply fissured with whitish cracked bark on old trees. The Inflorescence
consists of a long drooping catkin
, which blooms from March to April. The fruit
is a wind dispersed
achene
, that appears to look like patches of cotton
hanging from limbs, thus the name cottonwood. The 3 centimetres (1.2 in) - 7 centimetres (2.8 in) long leaves
, are cordate (heart-shaped) with an elongate tip, with white veins and coarse crenate teeth along the sides, glabrous to hairy, and often stained with milky resin. Autumn colors occur from October-November, mainly a bright yellow, also orange, rarely red.
The largest Fremont Cottonwood in the United States is in Santa Cruz, Arizona. It has a circumference of 42 feet, height of 92 feet, and a spread of 108 feet. A photo of this championship tree can be seen here. According to the caption, "This Fremont Cottonwood is the largest specimen of Fremont Cottonwood, which also makes it the largest flowering plant in the United States."
s and ecological restoration, larger garden
s and native plant
landscape design
, windbreaks, erosion control
, and shade for livestock and at recreation facilities and parks. Fremont cottonwood was used in the past by settlers and ranchers for fuel and fence posts.
ate the inner bark of Fremont cottonwood as an antiscorbutic. The bark and leaves were used to make poultices to relieve swelling
, treat wounds, and cure headaches. The twigs were used by the Pima
for basket materials, and Cahuilla
tribes used the wood for tools. Populus fremontii was used by the Pueblo
tribes for drums, and was the preferred wood species from the Colorado River
woodlands for Quechan
cremations.
Poplar
Populus is a genus of 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar , aspen, and cottonwood....
native to western North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
(except Modoc Plateau) and east to Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, and New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, and south into Sonora
Sonora
Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....
in northwestern Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. It grows in riparian areas
Riparian zone
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the fifteen terrestrial biomes of the earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks are called riparian vegetation, characterized by...
near streams
STREAMS
In computer networking, STREAMS is the native framework in Unix System V for implementing character devices.STREAMS was designed as a modular architecture for implementing full-duplex I/O between kernel or user space processes and device drivers. Its most frequent uses have been in developing...
, rivers, spring
Spring (hydrosphere)
A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...
s, wetlands, and alluvial bottomlands in the Southwestern United States
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
, and into northwestern Mexico, below 2000 metres (6,561.7 ft) elevation.
Description
Populus fremontii is a large treeTree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
growing from 12 metres (39.4 ft) - 35 metres (114.8 ft) in height with a wide crown, with a trunk up to 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) in diameter. The bark
Bark
Bark is the outermost layers of stems and roots of woody plants. Plants with bark include trees, woody vines and shrubs. Bark refers to all the tissues outside of the vascular cambium and is a nontechnical term. It overlays the wood and consists of the inner bark and the outer bark. The inner...
is smooth when young, becoming deeply fissured with whitish cracked bark on old trees. The Inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
consists of a long drooping catkin
Catkin
A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated but sometimes insect pollinated . They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged closely along a central stem which is often drooping...
, which blooms from March to April. The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
is a wind dispersed
Biological dispersal
Biological dispersal refers to species movement away from an existing population or away from the parent organism. Through simply moving from one habitat patch to another, the dispersal of an individual has consequences not only for individual fitness, but also for population dynamics, population...
achene
Achene
An achene is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate and indehiscent...
, that appears to look like patches of cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
hanging from limbs, thus the name cottonwood. The 3 centimetres (1.2 in) - 7 centimetres (2.8 in) long leaves
Leaves
-History:Vocalist Arnar Gudjonsson was formerly the guitarist with Mower, and he was joined by Hallur Hallsson , Arnar Ólafsson , Bjarni Grímsson , and Andri Ásgrímsson . Late in 2001 they played with Emiliana Torrini and drew early praise from the New York Times...
, are cordate (heart-shaped) with an elongate tip, with white veins and coarse crenate teeth along the sides, glabrous to hairy, and often stained with milky resin. Autumn colors occur from October-November, mainly a bright yellow, also orange, rarely red.
The largest Fremont Cottonwood in the United States is in Santa Cruz, Arizona. It has a circumference of 42 feet, height of 92 feet, and a spread of 108 feet. A photo of this championship tree can be seen here. According to the caption, "This Fremont Cottonwood is the largest specimen of Fremont Cottonwood, which also makes it the largest flowering plant in the United States."
Subspecies or varieties
Two or three subspecies have been recognized, which are sometimes alternatively placed as varieties in Populus deltoides- Populus fremontii subsp. fremontii, with synonyms P. f. var. arizonica Sarg.Charles Sprague SargentCharles Sprague Sargent was an American botanist. He was the first director of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts and the standard botanical author abbreviation Sarg. is applied to plants he described.-Biography:Sargent was the second son of Henrietta and...
and P. f. var. macdougalii (RoseJoseph Nelson RoseJoseph Nelson Rose was an American botanist. He was born in Union County, Indiana. His father died serving during the Civil War when Joseph Rose was a young boy. He later graduated from high school in Liberty, Indiana....
) Jeps.Willis Linn JepsonWillis Linn Jepson is known as California's most distinguished early botanist. He became interested in botany as a boy and explored adjacent regions. He had come in contact with various botanists before he entered college...
from California and west of the Continental Divide - Populus fremontii subsp. metesae Eckenwal., of arid areas of Mexico and widely planted elsewhere, generally east of the Continental Divide; sometimes placed in Populus deltoides
- Populus fremontii subsp. wislizeni (S. Watson) A.E. Murray, sometimes included in Populus deltoides
Cultivation
Populus fremontii is used in planting for: wildlife food and shelter habitatHabitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
s and ecological restoration, larger garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
s and native plant
Native plant
Native plant is a term to describe plants endemic or naturalized to a given area in geologic time.This includes plants that have developed, occur naturally, or existed for many years in an area...
landscape design
Landscape design
Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practised by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice landscape design bridges between landscape architecture and garden design.-Design scope:...
, windbreaks, erosion control
Erosion control
Erosion control is the practice of preventing or controlling wind or water erosion in agriculture, land development and construction. Effective erosion controls are important techniques in preventing water pollution and soil loss.-Introduction:...
, and shade for livestock and at recreation facilities and parks. Fremont cottonwood was used in the past by settlers and ranchers for fuel and fence posts.
Native Americans
Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
ate the inner bark of Fremont cottonwood as an antiscorbutic. The bark and leaves were used to make poultices to relieve swelling
Swelling (medical)
In medical parlance, swelling is the transient enlargement or protuberance in the body and may include tumors. According to cause, it may be congenital, traumatic, inflammatory, neoplastic or miscellaneous....
, treat wounds, and cure headaches. The twigs were used by the Pima
Pima
The Pima are a group of American Indians living in an area consisting of what is now central and southern Arizona. The long name, "Akimel O'odham", means "river people". They are closely related to the Tohono O'odham and the Hia C-ed O'odham...
for basket materials, and Cahuilla
Cahuilla
The Cahuilla, Iviatim in their own language, are Indians with a common culture whose ancestors inhabited inland areas of southern California 2,000 years ago. Their original territory included an area of about . The traditional Cahuilla territory was near the geographic center of Southern California...
tribes used the wood for tools. Populus fremontii was used by the Pueblo
Pueblo
Pueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
tribes for drums, and was the preferred wood species from the Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
woodlands for Quechan
Quechan
The Quechan are a Native American tribe who live on the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California just north of the border with Mexico...
cremations.
See also
- California native plantsCalifornia native plantsCalifornia native plants are plants that existed in California prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonists in the late 18th century...
- Riparian bufferRiparian bufferA riparian buffer is a vegetated area near a stream, usually forested, which helps shade and partially protect a stream from the impact of adjacent land uses...
- Riparian forestRiparian forestA riparian forest is a forested area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal, sink or reservoir. -Etymology:...
- Riparian zone restorationRiparian zone restorationRiparian zone restoration is the ecological restoration of riparian zone habitats of streams, rivers, springs, lakes, floodplains, and other hydrologic ecologies.Riparian zones have been degraded throughout much of the world...