Populus deltoides W. Barton ex Marshall
= Aigeiros deltoides, Monilistus monilifera, Populus sargentii, Populus texana, Populus wislizeni
Eastern cottonwood, common cottonwood, alamo
Apache: tis (Castetter and Opler 1936:45)
Northern Cheyenne: xamáa-hoohtsėtse (large tree) / métse(oʔo) (young tree) (Hart 1981:36)
Choctaw: ête hesha kaklahashe – “tree leaf noisy” (Bushnell 1909:23)
Dakota: wága chan (Gilmore 1977:20)
Gosiute: so’-o-pi (Chamberlin 1911:345)
Hopi: pashihürpbe (Hough 1897:38)
Lakota: čaŋjaxu – “chewing wood” / wagačaŋ
Navajo: t’iis (Elmore 1944:37)
Omaha-Ponca: maa zhon– “cotton tree” (Gilmore 1977:20)
Osage: baka hi (Munson 1981:237)
Pawnee: natakaaru (Gilmore 1977:20)
Tewa: te (Robbins et al. 1916)
Loc.: all TX except far S; common in Travis Co.
Form: tall tree.
Flowers: Feb-Apr (yellow).
Food
Fruits – the ball-like fruits were chewed by Isleta children as a gum (Jones 1931:39).
Foliage – the leaf buds were used as chewing gum by the Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache (Castetter and Opler 1936:45) and the Navajo (Elmore 1944:38).
Inner bark – the sprouting young shoots were peeled and the inner bark was eaten by the Teton Dakota for its sweet taste and nutrition (Gilmore 1977:20). The inner bark was scraped off and eaten by the Northern Cheyenne (Hart 1981:37) and Kiowa (Vestal and Schultes 1939:20). This was said to combat scurvy (Vestal and Schultes 1939:20), so may be high in vitamin C.
Sap – aphid secretions, which are sweet and called honeydew, were gathered from the leaves and eaten as a sugar by the Gosiute (Chamberlin 1911:376,378). The gum exuding from the tree trunks was used by the Navajo for chewing (Elmore 1944:38).
GS – inner bark: spring (Hart 1981:37).
Notes – during the winter, Plains tribes would cut down acres upon acres of young cottonwood trees for their starving ponies to browse upon (Dodge 1959). It was considered valuable forage for horses by Missouri River Indians (Gilmore 1977:20), Lakota (Munson 1981:237), and Northern Cheyenne (Hart 1981:37). A fungal growth that was found on the ground near or on the decaying wood of cottonwood trees was boiled and eaten by the Tewa, who considered it a delicacy (Robbins et al. 1916:67). Cottonwood was an important ceremonial plant of the Cheyenne (Hart 1981:37). According to their origin myth, the first Kiowa emerged from a hollow cottonwood log (Vestal and Schultes 1939:20).
The inner bark of Populus grandidentata was scraped off and boiled by the Ojibwe (Smith 1932:410) and the inner bark from young Populus trichocarpa trees was scraped off by the Flathead and chewed for the sweet sap (Hart 1979:291).
The sweet inner bark of quaking aspen, Populus tremuloides was eaten in the early summer by the Chippewa (Densmore 1928:320), Apache (Castetter and Opler 1936:43), Cree (Leighton 1985:52), and Blackfeet (Hellson and Gadd 1974:104). A large square of bark was cut off the tree with a long pointed stick, and the inner bark was scraped off this with a sharpened piece of wood (Castetter and Opler 1936:43). It was eaten raw, but was usually boiled (Castetter and Opler 1936:43, Leighton 1985:52). Sugar could be extracted by boiling it for a long time (Castetter and Opler 1936:43). Made into a tea by the northern Cheyenne (Hart 1981:37).
Quaking aspen sap was also gathered by the Ute in June like maple sap and drunk fresh (Smith 1974:66).
Medicine
Notes – the buds of balsam poplar (P. balsamifera) were cooked in lard or bear fat to make a salve applied to cuts, wounds, and bruises by the Ojibwe (Smith 1932:387) and Menominee (Smith 1923:51). Applied directly to sores to draw out infection by Cree (Leighton 1985:52). Applied to inside the nostrils to clear congestion from colds, catarrh, and bronchitis (Smith 1923:51, Smith 1932:387, Leighton 1985:52).
Material
Fruits – the fluffy fruit down (which gives the tree its name) was used by the Caddo to stuff pillows (La Vere 2006:86).
Seeds – a decoction of the “seed vessels” was used by the Dakota, Omaha, Ponca, and Pawnee for a yellow dye that was used on feathers (Gilmore 1977:21).
Foliage – the leaf buds were gathered in early spring and were used for dye by the Dakota, Omaha, Ponca, Pawnee (Gilmore 1977:20), and Northern Cheyenne (Hart 1981:37). Different colors – red, yellow, green, purple, and white – were obtainable (Gilmore 1977:20, Hart 1981:37), and seem to have depended on the individual bud or perhaps tree. The buds were scratched on sandstone to reveal the color (Hart 1981:37). The buds were mixed with blood to make black dye (Hart 1981:37). The buds were used to paint and decorate hides, such as on tipis, parfleches, and robes (Hart 1981:37)
Leaves – used by the Comanche for wrapping cigarettes (Kavanagh 2008:127,159).
Shoots – a common material used for Apache burden baskets (Mails 1974). A three rod foundation of slender switches were used in Apache basketry (Mails 1974). It was preferred to willow for basketry by many Gosiute because of its greater toughness (Chamberlin 1911:345,378).
Branches – the leafy branches were used by the Comanche to cover the summer arbor used in their Sun Dance ceremony (Kavanagh 2008:178). The Isleta Pueblo used the smaller limbs with leaves to thatch houses (Jones 1931:38).
Bark – used by the Dakota, Omaha, Ponca, and Pawnee as fuel for roasting the clay that was used for body painting (Gilmore 1977:20). The bark, along with cattail (Typha spp.) stems, was used by the Kickapoo for construction summer houses (Vestal and Schultes 1939:20).
Sap – used by the Comanche as an adhesive to attach feathers to arrow shafts (Kavanagh 2008:315).
Wood (mortar) – mesquite (Neltuma glandulosa) pods, a main food of the Cahuilla, were pounded in mortars made of mesquite or cottonwood stumps that were 2-3 feet high (Bean and Saubel 1972:109). The mortar was prepared by burning the center out and then cutting a depression with a stone axe (Bean and Saubel 1972:109). The typical mesquite bean mortar of the Cahuilla was about 30 inches high, with a hole 15 inches deep (Bean and Saubel 1972:113). A wooden or stone pestle 2-3 feet long was used in a standing position (Bean and Saubel 1972:109). Mesquite beans were pulverized by the Shoshone in a cottonwood trunk mortar (Irwin 1980:12). A cottonwood mortar with long stone pestle was used by the Kamia to pound acorns and mesquite pods (Gifford 1931:23).
Wood (construction) – poles of whole trees were used as posts and beams in lodges of the Kiowa (Battey 1875:167, Vestal and Schultes 1939:20), Apache, Comanche (Battey 1875:167), and Navajo (Elmore 1944:38). Platforms of cottonwood poles held large granaries made by the Yuma to store mesquite beans (Heintzelman 1853:116). The wood was used by the Tewa for many purposes, such as for making drums (Robbins et al. 1916:42). Large cottonwood poles were used by the Kiowa for constructing summer arbors (Vestal and Schultes 1939:20).It was used by the Navajo for fuel, fenceposts, carvings, and tubes for furnace bellows (Elmore 1944:38). It was used by the Hopi for roof beams (Hough 1897:38). The wood was highly valued by the Hopi (Hough 1897), probably for because it was one of the few large tree species in their desert area.
Wood (bullroarer) – the Pomo made the bullroarer for the Thunder Ceremony (xalimatoto) out of cottonwood slabs (Loeb 1926:379). They were 18 inches long, 3-4 inches wide, and ½ an inch thick at the center, tapering toward a thin-bladed edge (Loeb 1926:379). An additional bullroarer was attached to the same string, but was about half the size (Loeb 1926:379). Four men each wielded such a bullroarer, and swung them together, accompanied by a drum, to imitate the sound of a thunderstorm (Loeb 1926:379).
Wood – commonly used as fuel by the Kiowa (Vestal and Schultes 1939:20). It was used for bows by Natives in Lower California (Mason 1984:639). The Isleta used the wood for small boats and rafts, ceremonial drums, and small bows and arrows for (Jones 1931:39). The dry-rotted wood was used by the Northern Cheyenne as tinder for fire-starting (Hart 1981:37).
GS – foliage: the leaf buds were gathered in the spring (Hart 1981:37).
Experimentation
The use of this tree for food is not something found in foraging books. I only recently discovered these uses in my research and plan to try the buds, inner bark, and sap starting early next spring (2024) and will report back.
For yellow dye, Tull (1987) recommends using the leaves and buds in a ratio of 2 parts plant to 1 part wool, use alum, tin, or chrome as a mordant, and simmer or solar dye the materials.
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