General: Fremont's Cottonwood (Populus fremontii) is a tall, stately tree with a rounded top, heart-shaped leaves with lobed margins, and thick, gray, furrowed bark. The leaf petiole (leaf stem) is laterally flattened (shaped like a knife blade) rather than round, which allows the leaves to flutter in a breeze.

Fremont's Cottonwood is found along washes, rivers, and other wet areas in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zone.

Around Las Vegas, look for Fremont's Cottonwood trees around springs and along streams. Good places to see this species include Corn Creek at Desert National Wildlife Refuge, Wheeler Camp Spring at Red Rock Canyon, and at several of the remote springs in Gold Butte National Monument.

Family: Willow (Salicaceae).

Other Names:

Plant Form: Tall, stately tree with flat to rounded top.

Height: 40 ft (to 90 ft).

Trunk: Tall, stout, with deeply furrowed, gray bark.

Leaves: Heart shaped to triangular leaves, glossy green. Margins described at "crenately serrate," which basically translates to slightly lobed with lobes that can be somewhat pointed. The leaves produce "fall colors" at the end of summer.

Flowers: Cottonwood trees are dioecious, meaning they have separate male and female trees. Inflorescence is always a hanging catkin. Male catkins are a dense cluster of staminate flowers to about 3-inches long. Male flowers are a small, cup-shaped disc with many stamens and anthers. Female catkins are a sparse cluster of pistillate flowers to about 4-inches long. Female catkins elongate to produce a long (to several inches) string of green capsules that contain developing seeds and cottony fibers.

Seeds: Small seeds tufted with cottony hairs that ride on the wind.

Distribution: Washes, river corridors, springs from west Texas to California.

Elevation: To about 6,000 feet.

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