Part of
aspen/​cottonwood/​poplar genus Populus
in
willow family Salicaceae.
Native to western 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Canada and USA, from Alaska and British Columbia, to the Pacific Northwest (Cascadia), the 🗻︎ Rocky Mountains, and California.
🗺 Map (Western North America).
In the North and East of this range, this tree overlaps with a very-closely related sister-species
balsam poplar Populus balsamifera,
which then extends further North, West and East, into Alaska, the Great Lakes and East.
So closely-related, that some sources call this plant a subspecies (variety) of the sister-species, Populus balsamifera subsp. trichocarpa.
And some 🗺 maps confuse or
combine
them.
Often grows in clonal colonies
[1]
— look around for other stems!
Uses by native peoples
(Ethnobotany database)
Populus hosts caterpillars of 367 species
of butterflies and moths, in some areas.
This plant is also known to be a host for (in areas where invasive)
🐝︎ spotted lanternfly (SLF) Lycorma delicatula.
In areas where this plant is native, this plant is among
the wet-loving (but terrestrial
) shrubs and trees planted to protect eroding streambanks, lakeshores, floodplains, stormwater detention ponds, road slopes and landslides, using a process called
live-staking.
Propagation protocol.
USFS propagation protocol.