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Show JULY 1995 SPECIES OF THE sticks have no power unless they are carved from the root of a cottonwood tree. Cottonwoods do demand greater MONTH interest Cofttonwoods A LIVING MAP ACROSS DRY and Americans For COUNTRY next, just had Education and Arboretum zi steady triplicate drumming from the distance grows louder and louder, becoming distinguishable as a pounding gallop, beating hard upon the desert’s dusty face. A weary duo, man and horse, thunder by: man barely mounted, horse barely tame. For a flash of a second, the air vibrates with urgency, a jum- ble of noise and dirt and sweat. Then whoosh, they’re gone. Intent on speedy delivery, the Pony Express rider sights along his horse’s frothing neck, past a gasping mouth and flared nostrils to a dark line of green seven miles ahead on the flat, gray horizon. The year is 1861. The gray is the late summer monotone of wild North America. The green is cottonwood trees. Just the previous year, See done from Sacramento, ‘St: Joe, California, aes of the western US. could not have taken place withOut cottonwoods marking the trail. One of the most important strands of cottonwoods in the west was located at the edge of the forty mile desert at the foot of the Sierra Nevadas. Upon visual contact with the line of green at the base of the mountains, travelers would know that the desert was crossed. They would liberate their draft animals and make a beeline for the water, returning later for their wagons. A small town developed around those cottonwoods, called Rag Town in reference to the condition of newly arriving travelers. Today this town is Carson City, Nevada. Express Missouri to stations were set at 10 to 20 mile intervals with preference given to sites marked with healthy stands of cottonwoods. The bulky trees provided easily recognizable landmarks and dense shade, but the strategic plan was more basic. As massive deciduous trees and consumers of enormous volumes of water, cottonwoods survive western North America’s dry climate by associating directly with terrestrial water. They can be found growing along streams, circling isolated springs, or probing their pavement busting root systems in search of hidden ground water. “Taking with me Kit Carson, wood, Cottonwoods follow streams and ground water across the west. station sites had been selected and buildings and corrals constructed. Following the pioneer trail all the way Native all years, European along. as the for Native Americans hundreds cottonwood of years. groves pro- vided prime camping and grazing, and later sites for homesteads and settlements. The trees were appreciated and did not go by unnoticed: Cottonwood Canyon, Alamo, Cottonwood Wash, Cottonwood High school, Cottonwood Mall. Today’s landscape still bears the name, but the tree itself sometimes is overlooked. ae to cottonwoods, autumn is a grand and golden time. Cottonwoods prolong the gold of autumn through October, offering a brilliant blaze against a background of red sandstone cliffs; flowing from mouths of dry, gray canyons; and stabbing azure skies along linear horizons. When next you meet a cotton- by Pamela Mills Poulson Manager of Red Butte Garden as known 70 explorers, fur trappers, pioneers and surveyors charted their courses across the featureless Great Plains by moving from one water source to the Waterside Environmental respect, have nearly Cottonwoods, I made a thorough exploration of the neighboring valleys and found in a ravine in the bordering mountains a good camping place where there was water in springs and a sufficient quantity of grass for the night. Overshadowing the springs were some trees of the sweet [palatable to livestock] cottonwood, which after a long interval of absence, we saw again with pleasure, regarding them as harbingers of better country . . .” John C. Fremont, January 6, 1844. sometimes refer- red to as Poplars, range throughout western North America, including all counties of Utah. Cottonwoods are easily recognized by mass, alligatortextured bark, cottonborne seeds, autumn gold and the distinctive rustle of their leaves in wind. The two common, easily identifiable species of cottonwood in Utah are Fremont Cottonwood (Populus. fremontii) with broad, heart-shaped leaves, found most commonly in southern Utah; and Narrowleaf Cottonwood (P. angustifolia.) with willowesque, lance-shaped leaves (often mistaken for a mouths willow of our tree), tened stem, the two being attached at right angles to one another—the same feature as found on quaking aspen, one of cottonwood’s closest relatives. B™ cottonwoods and aspens are in the Willow Family (SALICACEAE). All family members contain the medicinal substance named for the family—Salicylic Acid—the chief pain killing ingredient in aspirin. The green cambium layer found just under the bark can be chewed for a pain killing effect, but this natural medication is neither refined nor buffered and, while headaches may stop, vomiting will begin. Cottonwoods play a vital role in religious ceremonies of southwest tribes: An graces the center of the Pueblo San enormous Ildefonzo, New sage Mexico of a tree at ceremo- in the along the nial dance plaza. Double headed Pueblo drums must be made of cottonwood. Hopi Kachinas and prayer PAGE 4 found canyons Wasatch. Lewis and Clark described it as “a species of cottonwood with a leaf like that of a wild cherry.” The genus name Populus comes from the resemblance of cottonwood’s trembling leaves to the bobbing human heads of a crowd. Leaves of Populus do indeed move more than the leaves of other trees. This is a result of a pivot formed between the leaf blade and its flat- remember these stories. Feel its rough bark. Listen to the rustle of its leaves. Admire its mass. Smell the nearby water. Speculate its age. Imagine the human history it has witnessed. @ COTTONWOOD Fremont Cottonwood (Populus fremontii), Also Known As: Poplar, Alamo (Spanish) HEIGHT Fremont to 90 feet. Narrowleaf to 60 feet. From 10 to 40 feet. TRUNK DIAMETER Fremont to 5 feet. Narrowleaf to 3 feet. RANGE AND DISTRIBUTION Western North America from Canada to Mexico. PREFERRED SITE In sunny open areas adjacent to perennial water source or available ground water. ASSOCIATES Willows, cattails, sedges, and other wetlands vegetation. CULTURAL NOTES Not recommended for use in the home landscape. Grow large and quickly. Roots can break water pipes and buckle pavement. SPECIAL NOTE Can live to be 200 years old. |
