They’re Named Cottonwoods For Good Reason

Late last week, we spent some time at Wendy Park on Cleveland’s lake shore and while it was a very hot May morning, it seemed to be snowing. As we got further into the park, we noticed a large stand of cottonwood trees that were fully laden with seeds encased in what looks like fluffy cotton (hence the name cottonwood) but of course it’s not cotton. The fluffy seed casing just allows the seeds to be easily dispersed by the breeze – and the day we visited the park the seeds were flying around in full force, making it look like a snow storm. Despite the fact that many seeds were in the air and on the ground, the trees were still loaded with seeds, almost making each tree look like it was covered in huge clumps of white cotton candy. Here are a few photos. (Now, if someone would just invent a cottoncandy tree, I would be happy.)






All Photos and Text © Chris A. Zimmer and chriszimmer.blogspot.com

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