Tree · Salicaceae
Eastern cottonwood
Populus deltoides · includes its varieties and subspecies
Eastern cottonwood is recorded as native to 42 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,543 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Eastern cottonwood at a glance
- Native in
- 1,543 counties, across 42 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a PLANTS minimum temperature −43°F
- Mature height
- 190 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −43°F; zone 3a winters bottom out at −40°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Eastern cottonwood is recorded as native to 42 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,543 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,543 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 48 counties
- Arizona 3 counties
- Arkansas 75 counties
- Colorado 28 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 16 counties
- Georgia 26 counties
- Illinois 94 counties
- Indiana 57 counties
- Iowa 12 counties
- Kansas 104 counties
- Kentucky 92 counties
- Louisiana 42 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 12 counties
- Michigan 48 counties
- Minnesota 67 counties
- Mississippi 43 counties
- Missouri 102 counties
- Montana 39 counties
- Nebraska 52 counties
- New Hampshire 5 counties
- New Jersey 16 counties
- New Mexico 24 counties
- New York 40 counties
- North Carolina 29 counties
- North Dakota 36 counties
- Ohio 87 counties
- Oklahoma 37 counties
- Pennsylvania 20 counties
- South Carolina 15 counties
- South Dakota 21 counties
- Tennessee 37 counties
- Texas 87 counties
- Utah 1 county
- Vermont 6 counties
- Virginia 64 counties
- West Virginia 25 counties
- Wisconsin 11 counties
- Wyoming 18 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 190 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 18 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.6 to 6.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 24 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −43°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- White
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Salicaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- PODE3
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Populus deltoides (PLANTS symbol PODE3), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources