Exotic Wood cottonwood

WOOD ID POSTER:
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240 woods on a poster (24"x36")

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COTTONWOOD

Populus spp.
Populus spp. of the family Salicaceae.

A note on the confusion among the names "cottonwood" / "poplar" / "tulip poplar" / "yellow poplar" / "American tulip"
When people in the USA say "poplar" they PROBABLY mean "tulip poplar" / "yellow poplar" which is NOT actually poplar at all even though the common name designates it as poplar. True poplar (what should, to avoid confusion, be called cottonwood) is Populus spp. of the family Salicaceae) but some people DO call cottonwood by the name "poplar" despite the confusion so it is sometimes hard to tell which one a person is talking about, especially since some people are not aware of the confusion.

"Tulip poplar", "yellow poplar", and "American tulip" are all names for Liriodendron tulipifera of the family Magnoliaceae. "yellow poplar" and "tulip poplar" are most the most commonly used names for Liriodendron tulipifera in the USA, AFTER the use of "poplar" itself, which is the MOST common designation for Liriodendron tulipifera even though, strictly speaking, that's the wrong designation. On this site, I list Liriodendron tulipifera as "poplar", following common useage, and I list the ACTUAL poplar as "cottonwood"

I personally think that the most logical thing to do would be to call Populus spp. "poplar" and Liriodendron tulipifera "tulip/tulipwood" (or "American tulip" to avoid confusion with Brazilian tulipwood) but as always, I don't get to make the rules, I just try to report on reality as accurately as I can.

To add to the confusion, one of the USA common names for Liriodendron tulipifera is "basswood" but the name "basswood" in the USA more commonly refers to Tilia spp. (which is also called "lime" and "lindon"). FURTHER, another USA common name for Liriodendron tulipifera is canary/canarywood, but those names more often refer, in the USA, to the South American wood Centrolobium spp.). Then just to make it all more interesting, many of the Populus species that are the wood normally called "aspen" ALL also have the names poplar and/or cottonwood or both as part of one or more of their other common names.

I COULD continue this trail of confusion until you felt that your eyeballs had been twisted into a knot, but I will spare you. This is the joy of common wood names.

This plentiful and inexpensive common hardwood is very light and easy to work, with an even texture, but surface requires sharp tool to avoid a fuzzy/wooly texture and staining can be very blotchy (the end grain will suck up stain like a madman sucking on a straw) although it takes paint very well.

a note about the genus Populus (IN THE USA) with common names including aspen and poplar (cottonwood)

my samples:

both sides of a sample plank of Eastern poplar / Populus deltoides

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of Lombardy poplar / Populus nigra

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above --- the end grain closeup on this one is pretty useless. The end had been crushed by the saw and I sanded it down but clearly not quite enough and anyway, there's really no grain to be seen.

both sides of a sample plank of white poplar / Populus alba

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

both sides and both ends of a sample piece

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

sample plank and end grain listed as black cottonwood / Populus trichocarpa

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

plank

plank and closeup

two contiguous edges of a cottonwood (not tulip) poplar plank that was cut from one of the larger ones above and then sanded for these pics. The slightly lighter color of the wood in these pics is due to better color correction --- these are more accurate that the pics of the intact planks above.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

The Wood Book pics

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
large toothed poplar (Populus grandidenta, also listed as large toothed aspen, large poplar, and whitewood) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera, also listed as tacamahac) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
big cottonwood (Populus deltoides, also listed as necklace poplar and just plain "cottonwood") from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
Lombardy poplar (listed as Populus dilatata but this is just a synonym for Populus nigra) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
white poplar (Populus alba, also listed as abele) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
swamp poplar (Populus heterophylla, also listed as downy poplar and river cottonwood) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii, also listed as white cottonwood) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views

flat cut, quartersawn, end grain
black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) from The Wood Book --- both levels of enlargement are available for each of the 3 views

web pics