The Popular Crowd

TWINKLING, FLUTTERING, MARCHING, quaking, trembling — these are all words typically used to capture the unique way that poplars, aspens, and cottonwoods stand out in the landscape. All three of these trees are members of the Populus, or poplar, genus, which contains just 35 known species. The word “Populus” is said to come from the Latin “populus arbori,” meaning “the people’s tree.” Another source suggests that the name arises from the Romans planting these trees anywhere people were likely to meet. Trees in the genus provide shelter and food for a wide variety of animal and insect life, and, in death, they’re home to a very specific mushroom species.

Here in Ohio, it’s hard to go anywhere without finding cottonwoods (), perhaps the most common species in the U.S. Cottonwoods are so much a part of the landscape that they’re almost viewed as weeds. In many communities around the genus are considered noxious and are illegal to plant. However, it seems that cottonwoods and their cousins have other ideas, because human efforts don’t appear to be slowing their spread down at all.