United States / Grow / cottonwood

cottonwood (Populus sp.)
Photo: (c) Jared Shorma, some rights reserved (CC BY) (CC BY), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.

cottonwood

Populus sp. (accepted: Populus) · Salicaceae · all Populus records · also called Poplar · Wikipedia

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Is this one for your yard?

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Populus cites Time to extinguish on populus. On populus, green test condition beside populus on Populus. The facts answer different questions for populus — Populus. On populus, Time to extinguish does not replace green for populus.

On populus, Populus also carries genus rank umbrella record for populus.

Use evidence on populus for populus. Use test conditions on populus for populus. The sourced rows remain on populus. On populus, populus holds Time to extinguish beside green in the populus table for Populus.

Form
tree
Region
British Columbia, Canada; EE. UU.; Tasmania, Australia
Rated in
British Columbia; California; Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa; Fremont County, Wyoming +11
On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions
1 condition stated in cited fire-evidence rows.
Placement evidence
6 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions
British Columbia; California; Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa; Fremont County, Wyoming; Global; Greece; Michigan / Great Lakes; Montana / Northern Rockies; Nevada / Great Basin; Oregon; South Carolina; Tasmania, Australia; Utah / Intermountain West; Yavapai County, Arizona; western WA
Typed publication scope: 9 scopes across 9 cited fire sources

2. Why this plant is relevant here

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

How to read this page

The status above is computed from the cited rows below: independent recommendations can support a fire-resistant result, an avoid row can produce keep-away, and disagreement stays visible as conflict. Placement notes preserve each source’s own scheme rather than translating unlike rules into one scale. This is evidence about a plant, not permission to plant it in every part of the defensible space; Zone 0 remains noncombustible.

Conditions in the fire evidence

These describe tested or rated plant material. They are not horticultural maintenance instructions.

Where its sources say to plant it

Placement rules below use each source's own distances or named zones, tied to its rating. They are not interchangeable with the directory's current Zone 0 guidance.

The evidence

Grouped by what each source concluded. Primary evidence rated the plant itself (a lab, field program, or original curation); corroboration compiled or republished another source's rating and resolves to its root lineage.

Recommends (12)

Corroboration (7 rows from 7 sources)

Avoids (1)

Mid-scale / conditional (1)

Listed without a rating (11)
Corroboration (11 rows from 1 source)
  • FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database — Dryad / Global Ecology and Biogeography · Dryad version 9 · original source Corroboration Trait database lineage: meta-aggregator

    11 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.

    • Primary study Catchpole1998: Catchpole, W.R., Catchpole, E.A., Butler, B.W., Rothermel, R.C., Morris, G.A., & Latham, D. J. (1998) Rate of spread of free-burning fires in woody fuels in a wind tunnel. Combustion Science and Technology, 131, 1–37.

      Shared row context: Sustainability measurement; plant part litter; fuel all; predrying no; device outdoor wind tunnel; site Catchpole1998-1; sampling ND.

      • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 20”

        FLAMITS record 17799.

      • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 21”

        FLAMITS record 17800.

      • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 23”

        FLAMITS record 17801.

      • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 19”

        FLAMITS record 17802.

      • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 22”

        FLAMITS record 17803.

      • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 25”

        FLAMITS record 17804.

      • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 19”

        FLAMITS record 17805.

      • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 19”

        FLAMITS record 17806.

      • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 12”

        FLAMITS record 17807.

      • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 11”

        FLAMITS record 17808.

      • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 9”

        FLAMITS record 17809.

Last verified 2026-08-23. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

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Populus sp. (Poplar). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/populus/. Last verified 2026-08-23.