Narrowleaf Cottonwood
Populus angustifolia
Narrowleaf cottonwood reads almost like a willow, with slender pale-green leaves lining mountain streams across the interior West. A key riparian tree at higher elevations than Fremont cottonwood. Like other cottonwoods, the inner bark has flavored soups or bread flour, and a sweet honeydew from aphids on the leaves has served as a sweetener.
- Family
- Salicaceae
- Type
- tree
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 60–60 ft
- Spacing
- 20–35 ft apart
- Light
- sun
- Soil moisture
- moist
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral
- Bloom
- March, April, May
- Bloom colors
- white
- Wildlife value
- songbirds, larval host, mammals
- Caterpillar hosts
- ~367 butterfly & moth species
- Landscape uses
- specimen, rain garden
- Native states
- AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NE, NM, NV, SD, TX, UT, WY
Related native plants
More Populus species
- Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides)
- Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides)
- Bigtooth Aspen (Populus grandidentata)
- Fremont Cottonwood (Populus fremontii)
- Black Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa)
- Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera)