Hajmdbook of Tkees of the jSToetiiern States and Cai^^ada. 101 



The Narrow-leai Cottomvood is a medium- 

 size tree rarelj' surpassing 60 or 70 ft. in 

 height or 18 in. in thickness of trunk. It 

 develops a rather narrow pyramidal top of 

 ascending pale ashen gray branches, light 

 orange-brown lustrous branchlets of the season 

 and small buds. The 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 the broader-leaved Willows 

 than of the other Poplars, and constitute a 

 feature by which this tree is quickly recog- 

 nized. It is the commonest Cottonwood over a 

 considerable part of its range skirting the 

 banks of streams and moist places between the 

 altitudes of 5000 and 10000 ft. above the sea. 

 It is e.xtensively 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. 



Lrni-rs lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate. 2-.3y2 in. 

 long, rounded or cunoate at base, narrowing to an 

 acute or blunt apex, finely serrate the entire length 

 (or coarsely serrate on vigorous shoots^ rather 

 thin, glaltrous, ypllow-green above, paler beneath, 

 with broad midribs; petioles 1/2-% in. long grooved 

 above hut not laterally flattened. Flowers in 

 closely flowered glabrous short-stalked aments ; 

 stami'nate with cun-sbaped disk and 12-20 sta- 

 mens ; pistillate with cup-shaped disk and broad- 

 lobed stigmas. Fr/rit in erect or inc!in"d aments, 

 2-.^ in. long with broad-ovoid crowded short- 

 pediccled capsules. 



