Salicaceae (willow family) Populus

Populus fremontii Fremont cottonwood

Western North America

The leaf is triangular, about 3 inches long, and has a toothed edge but the teeth are rounded. The leaf petiole is flattened. This cottonwood is found in parts of California that are drier than here.

A wild population grows along the creek that runs on the west side of Stanford Avenue, below Frenchman’s dam (across from Ryan Court); large trees can be seen below Junipero Serra Boulevard at the highway bridge near Alpine Road. Specimens also are on Serra Street between El Camino Real and Pampas Lane. A Fremont cottonwood near Sutter’s Fort State Park, Sacramento, was 82 feet tall in 1968.

John Thomas in his 1961 Flora of the Santa Cruz Mountains gives only one location: “San Francisquito Creek near Stanford”.

About this Entry: The main text of this entry is from the book Trees of Stanford and Environs, by Ronald Bracewell, published 2005. John Rawlings added the Thomas note ca. 2005.