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Common Name: Rio Grande Cottonwood

General Information

Populus deltoides wislizenii is a deciduous tree that can grow up to 30.00 metres tall.
It is harvested from the wild for local use as a food, medicine and source of materials.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

, ,

Range

Southern N. America - Texas, Colorado, Mexico.

Habitat

Streambanks and valleys, 750 - 2,000 metres in Texas[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Deciduous Tree
Height	30.00 m
Growth Rate	Fast
Pollinators	Wind
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

An easily grown plant, it does well in a heavy cold damp soil[]. Prefers a deep rich well-drained circumneutral soil, growing best in the south and east of Britain[, ]. Growth is much less on wet soils, on poor acid soils and on thin dry soils[]. It does not do well in exposed upland sites[]. It dislikes shade and is intolerant of root or branch competition[].
A fast-growing species on moist sites, but it is short-lived[].
Poplars have very extensive and aggressive root systems that can invade and damage drainage systems. Especially when grown on clay soils, they should not be planted within 12 metres of buildings since the root system can damage the building's foundations by drying out the soil[].
This species is closely related to P. fremontii[].
A dioecious species - both male and female forms must be grown if fruit and seed are required.
Hybridizes freely with other members of this genus[].

Edible Uses

Inner bark[, , ]. There are no more details but inner bark is often dried, ground into a powder and then used as a thickener in soups etc or added to cereals when making bread.
Catkins - raw[, , , , ].
The cotton from the pistillate catkins has been used by children as a chewing gum[].
Seeds[, , ]. No more details are given but the seeds are very small and would be exceedingly fiddly to collect and use.
Buds[, , ]. Used as a chewing gum[].

Medicinal

Although no specific mention has been seen for this species, the bark of most, if not all members of the genus contain salicin, a glycoside that probably decomposes into salicylic acid (aspirin) in the body[, ]. The bark is therefore anodyne, anti-inflammatory and febrifuge. It is used especially in treating rheumatism and fevers, and also to relieve the pain of menstrual cramps[].

Other Uses

An extract of the shoots can be used as a rooting hormone for all types of cuttings. It is extracted by soaking the chopped up shoots in cold water for a day[].
Trees are planted for dune fixing in erosion control programmes[].
Wood - soft, rather woolly in texture, without smell or taste, of low flammability, not durable, very resistant to abrasion. It has a specific gravity of 0.46[]. Used for posts, rough lumber and rafters of houses, it can also be used as a fuel[, , ].

Propagation

Seed - must be sown as soon as it is ripe in spring[]. Poplar seed has an extremely short period of viability and needs to be sown within a few days of ripening[]. Surface sow or just lightly cover the seed in trays in a cold frame. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in the old frame. If sufficient growth is made, it might be possible to plant them out in late summer into their permanent positions, otherwise keep them in the cold frame until the following late spring and then plant them out. Most poplar species hybridize freely with each other, so the seed may not come true unless it is collected from the wild in areas with no other poplar species growing[].
Cuttings of mature wood of the current season's growth, 20 - 40cm long, late autumn in a sheltered outdoor bed or direct into their permanent positions. Very easy.
Suckers in early spring[].