DUNE BUILDER
Description of Dune Builder
The Dune Builder was the second stop on the succession trail. IN the Dune Builder, tall and strong, you can see a Cotton Wood tree. Even with fall approaching, the tree was bright. The Dune Builder was the first step into the main land from the Beach area.
Cotton Wood
Name: Cotton Wood
Botanical name: Populus Deltoides
Family Name: Popdel
Nativity: Cotton Wood is a native plant to Easter & Central North America.
Optimum Growing Conditions: Cotton Wood primarily grows near moist alluvial soil of floodplains and bottom lands. That is why we found this plant on the trail so close to the beach. The Cotton Wood needs moist soil. It also can with stand great temperature ranging from -49°F to about 114.8°F.
Practical Uses: The Cotton Wood is used by wildlife as food. The bark of the Cotton Wood is sweet. Other wildlife use the Cotton Wood as a home and make a nest in the tree.
Foliage: The leaves are coarsely toothed, triangular in shape, and has a glossy dark green color.
Fruit: Flowers bloom in early spring time for the Cotton Wood. Male flowers are reddish in color and female flowers give away to dehiscent capsules that split open with ripe broadcasting abundant densely-tuffed seeds.
Bark: Bark on mature trees are ridged and dark.