Handbook of Trees of the Kortiikkn Stat 



A.ND ('ax A 



101 



The Xarrow-leai Cottonwood is a modium- 

 size tree rarely surpassing 00 or 70 ft. in 

 height or 18 in. in thiekness of trunk. It 

 develops a rather narrow pyraniid.il top of 

 ascending ])ale ashen gray branches, light 

 orange-brown lustrous branchlets of the .season 

 and small buds. Tlie livid smooth bark of the 

 younger trunks becomes fissured with age. as 

 the trunk enlarges, and finally is furrowed 

 with dark firm ridges. Its small short- 

 stemmed narrow green leaves are more sug- 

 gestive of some of tlie broader-leaved Willows 

 than of the other Poplars, and constitute a 

 feature by which tliis tree is quickly recog- 

 nized. It is the commonest Cottonwood over a 

 considerable part of its range skirting tlie 

 banks of streams and moist places between the 

 altitudes of 5000 and 10000 ft. above the sea. 

 It is extensively planted as a shade tree in the 

 streets of towns of Colorado and Utah. 



The wood is light, a cubic foot weighing 

 24.38 lbs., soft, not strong, and of a light 

 brown color with lighter sap-wood. 



Lrarrs lanc(>olate to ovate-lanceolate. 2-?,V< in. 

 long, rounded or cunpate at base. naiTowinii to an 

 acute or blunt apex, finely serrate the entire leimtli 

 (or coarsel.v serra*^'' on vi^onms sliootsi rather 

 thin, slalu'ous. yel'ow-yreen aliove. paler l)eneatli. 

 with broad midrilis ; i)etii>les i.,-'*i in. \imu: ij;ro(.veil 

 al)ove but not lateiallv tlatteued. Floinis :n 

 closely flowered ylalfons sliort-stalked anients : 

 staminato with cun-shaned disk and li! 20 sta- 

 mens : pistillate with cup-shaped disk and hroad- 

 lobed stigmas. F>-iiif in ei'ect or inclined auK'iUs. 

 •J .". in. long with broad-ovoid ci'owded sliort- 

 pediceled capsules. 



