eastern cottonwood
Populus deltoides
A genus split is not a placement verdict.
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Eastern cottonwood is rated fire resistant, but the cited primary finding is limited to oven-dried leaves.
All four assessments lean favorable. Ohio State places the tree in the low-flammability band of its five-point scale, while Virginia Tech gives it the same low rating on a three-point scale. The Forest Service and state Firewise programs call it “Moderately Firewise,” a 2 on their four-point scale. These are expert or program classifications, so their agreement is useful, but they are not four separate combustion experiments.
The direct finding comes through Lesley Corbett’s global compilation: a 1969 study described oven-dried eastern cottonwood leaves as “notably non-flammable.” That supports the resistant verdict, but its boundary matters. It describes prepared leaves, not a whole living tree exposed to flame, wind, accumulated debris, or seasonal conditions. None of the favorable classifications should be stretched into a promise that the tree cannot burn.
Eastern cottonwood is a roughly 50-foot tree with high water needs, grown in full sun and hardy to USDA zone 5a. For landscape planning, the sensible reading is that several institutions treat it as a lower-flammability choice, while the direct experimental support remains narrow.
- Form
- tree
- Mature height
- ~50 ft
- Light
- Full sun
- Water need
- high
- Rated in
- Global compilation (published in Australia); Ohio / Midwest; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; eastern US