The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Populus trichocarpa
Also called Black Cottonwood, Balsam Poplar, California Popular
A large, fast-growing deciduous tree of western North America, often reaching 30 to 50 m, grown mainly as an ornamental or for timber. Its key care points are full sun, plenty of moisture, and planting it where its invasive roots won't reach foundations or drains.
Populus trichocarpa, the black cottonwood, western balsam-poplar or California poplar, is a deciduous broadleaf tree species native to western North America. It is used for timber, and is notable as a model organism in plant biology. The tree is notable for the seed-carrying cottony fluff it releases into the air each spring.
It is grown as an ornamental tree, valued for its fast growth and scented foliage in spring, detectable from over 100 m distance. The roots are however invasive, and it can damage the foundations of buildings on shrinkable clay soils if planted nearby (Mitchel 1996).
Branches can be added to potted plants to stimulate rooting.
The native range of P. trichocarpa covers large sections of western North America. It extends from Southeast Alaska's Kodiak Island and Cook Inlet to latitude 62° 30° N., through British Columbia and the forested areas of Washington and Oregon, to the mountains in southern California and northern Baja California (31°N). It is also found inland, generally on the west side of the Rocky Mountains, in British Columbia, southwestern Alberta, western Montana, and north-to-central Idaho. Scattered small populations have been noted in southeastern Alberta, eastern Montana, western Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada.
White Poplar · Balsam poplar · Himalayan Poplar · Eastern cottonwood · Bigtooth aspen · Tana River poplar · Black Poplar · Populus pruinosa · Simon poplar · Eurasian Aspen · Quaking aspen · Yunnan poplar
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Populus trichocarpa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
