Shared by Sam Jensen, as Guest Blogger.

Of all the trees in the riparian zone at Shenandoah River State Park, none is as large and majestic as Populus deltoides, the Eastern cottonwood.

Cottonwood tree along the Shenandoah River

The cottonwood is a fast growing tree that thrives in a high moisture, full sun environment with sandy soil. Young cottonwoods can add six feet to their height each year, and adult cottonwoods can reach heights of 200 feet tall and 9 feet diameter.

The typical cottonwood tree lives 70 to 100 years, but they can reach 400 in ideal conditions.

They get their common name from their fluffy seeds, which look almost like cotton balls. The leaves of the cottonwood are triangular, with flattened petiole. This causes the leaves to shake in the wind, like their more famous relative the quaking aspen. In the fall, the leaves turn bright yellow.   

Leaves of the cottonwood tree

While rare in Virginia, cottonwoods are more common and highly celebrated in the Midwest. Native Americans fed the leaves to livestock and used the trunks to make dugout canoes. European settlers knew that sighting a cottonwood meant water and shade, scarce commodities on the journey westward. Kansas named the cottonwood the official state tree and designated it the “pioneer of the prairie.”

  Tall cottonwood tree

Due to its quick growth rate and love of moisture, the wood of cottonwood tree is too soft for construction and difficult to dry out for firewood. It is used for pulpwood, pallets and other applications that don’t require high strength. 

Cottonwood log and stump provides habitat for animals

Even in death, the cottonwood continues to play a role in the environment. In the picture above, animals have dug into the stump hole under a massive fallen cottonwood tree, creating a hidden burrow on the riverbank. Bears and other animals have torn the bark off the trunk looking for beetles and other bugs to eat.   

For more information on Shenandoah River State Park, click here. For more information on all your Virginia State Parks, please click here.