Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

Common forest trees of North Carolina

items 28 of 80 items
  • wcu_great_smoky_mtns-9688.jpg
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  • SWAMP COTTONWOOD (Populus heterophylla L.) THIS is a tree of low, wet swamps and the borders of rivers, in the Atlantic coastal and Mississippi Valley regions. The seeds are carried far by winds and germinate on wet sandy soils. The tree attains a height of 70 to 90 feet and a diameter of 3 feet. The branches are usually short, forming a narrow, round-topped head, and the buds are resinous. SWAMP COTTONWOOD. Twig, three-quarters natural size. Leaf, one-half natural size. The leaves are broadly ovate, 3 to 6 inches wide and 4 to 7 inches long, gradually narrowed at the tip and slightly rounded toward the base, usually finely toothed along the edges, dark green above, pale and smooth below; on rounded leaf-stems from 2 to 3 inches long. The flowers, which bloom in early spring, are in catkins, the female catkins few-flowered. The fruit, containing the tiny seeds supported by "cotton," is borne on female, or pistillate, trees, and the male, or staminate, flowers occur separately on other trees. The fruit ripens before the leaves are fully grown. The wood is light and soft and, as lumber, requires special attention in drying to prevent its warping badly. It makes excellent paper pulp for printing half-tone illustrations. The European white poplar (Populus alba L.) with light-gray bark and leaves, white woolly beneath, is often found near old houses and along roadsides. The Lombardy poplar, a tall narrow form of the European black poplar (Populus nigra var. italica Du Roi) is often planted and is a striking tree for the roadside. 26
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).