Arkansas Tree Database

Scientific name:

Populus Deltoides

Size:

100' tall

Leaves:

alternate, simple, 3"-5" across, triangular in shape, coarsely toothed on the edges, with prominent midrib; shiny light green

Flowers:

pendulous catkins, inconspicuous; March-April

Fruit:

capsule, in a catkin up to 1', releasing white tufted cottony seeds; May-June

Fall Interest:

yellow; deciduous

Culture:

sun; medium to wet, well-drained soil; bordering streams and in wet soils in valleys; fast growing, 5' annually on favorable sites and as much as 13' the first year

Disease/Insect:

Use:

rough lumber, fuel

Cultivars:

Notes:

bark gray and smooth when young, deeply furrowed with thick wide ridges with age; pioneers on new sandbars and bare flood plains, often with willows; woody cuttings sprout easily and can be used to stabilize eroding banks; one of the largest eastern hardwoods and one of the fastest-growing; native to Arkansas