Large rapidly growing tree up to 100 feet tall; trunk diameter up to eight feet; crown spreading or broadly rounded, with some drooping branches. The largest tree in Illinois, in Grundy County, is a Cottonwood measuring twenty‑eight feet six inches in circumference.

 Smooth and gray when young, becoming furrowed at maturi­ty.

 Yellow‑green, gray, or tan, smooth, moderately stout, with numerous pale "dots"; leaf scars alternate, triangular, with 3 large bundle traces.

 Lance-shaped, long,pointed, up to 1/2 inch long, sticky, chestnut colored.

 Alternate, simple; blades to 5 inches long and often nearly as broad, triangular, abruptly pointed at the tip, cut straight across or even slightly heart‑shaped at the base, with coarse rounded teeth along the edges, green, smooth, and shiny on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface; leafstalks to 4 inches long, smooth, often yellow, flat.

 Staminate and pistillate borne on separate trees, the staminate crowded in rather thick, reddish catkins, the pistillate crowded in narrower, greenish‑yellow catkins, both sexes ap­pearing before the leaves begin to unfold.

 Elliptic, greenish‑brown capsules up to 1/4 inch long,

   grouped in elongated clusters, containing numerous seeds with

   cottony hairs attached.       

 Bottomland woods, along streams.

Distinguishing Features:

 The Cottonwood is easily recognized by its triangular leaves with flattened leafstalks. The cottony seeds, when the fruits are mature, are also distinctive.

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  Tree species facts from Robert Mohlenbrock , Forest Trees of Illinois , 1996