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).  Adobe Acrobat Reader file

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.  Adobe Acrobat Reader file   USFS propagation protocol.

Learn more about ◼︎ black cottonwood Populus trichocarpa

🔍︎ 🔍︎ images Discover Life Encyclopedia of Life Flora of North America USDA PLANTS db USFS USFS plant of the week USFS Silvics Wikipedia