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Snow Flakes of Cotton · Street Smart Naturalist

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Greetings,
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: this is David B.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Williams and the podcast of my newsletter,
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: The Street Smart Naturalist,
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind.
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  Every week I share my observations and adventures with the
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  human and natural world
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  SPEAKER_00: around Seattle,
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  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest.
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  SPEAKER_00: Today's episode explores the snow storming our city and surroundings.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: To learn more about my work, please go to my website, geologywriter.com.
• 0:25
  You will also find a link to my Substack newsletter and my
• 0:28
  previous four years of
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: newsletters,
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: as well as images tied to this week's episode.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for joining me on this adventure,
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: and welcome to Podcast 27 of the Street Smart Naturalist,
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Snowflakes of Cotton,
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  SPEAKER_00: June 5th,
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  SPEAKER_00: 2025.
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  SPEAKER_00: Tis that time of year when cotton starts to snow the landscape.
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  I always enjoy this annual falling of little white clusters out
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  of the sky,
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  SPEAKER_00: particularly since we see so little real snow falling in Seattle.
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  SPEAKER_00: Neither cotton nor snow,
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  SPEAKER_00: the white flakes,
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  SPEAKER_00: come from our local cottonwood,
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  SPEAKER_00: the black cottonwood,
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  SPEAKER_00: Populus trichocarpa.
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  This specific epithet provides a hint to the plant's legendary
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  or notorious for
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  SPEAKER_00: some feature as trichocarpa means hairy seed from the Greek thryx,
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  SPEAKER_00: a hair,
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  SPEAKER_00: and karpos,
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  SPEAKER_00: fruit.
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  The female plants generate the snowstorm from their seed pods
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  about the size of a
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  SPEAKER_00: pea and clustered like grapes.
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  When ripe,
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  the pods release gazillions of minute seeds with their silky
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  tufts.
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  SPEAKER_00: Providing buoyancy,
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  the hairs allow the seeds to sail the wind for miles in the
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  right conditions.
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  SPEAKER_00: With a viability of just days to weeks,
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  SPEAKER_00: few germinate and even fewer survive to reproduce themselves,
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  SPEAKER_00: which is why the plants have evolved to produce their seed blizzards.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not everyone cottons on to these cottonwood seed storms.
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  SPEAKER_00: They dislike how the seeds clog filters,
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  SPEAKER_00: get in their hair or in their throat,
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  SPEAKER_00: and stick to screens.
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  SPEAKER_00: I get these concerns,
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  but still am glad that cottonwoods grace our environment and
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  would rather celebrate
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  SPEAKER_00: than bemoan.
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  SPEAKER_00: When the seeds do succeed,
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  SPEAKER_00: they produce a stately magnificent tree,
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  SPEAKER_00: the biggest of which can shoot straight up for 200 feet,
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  SPEAKER_00: though 100 to 125 feet is more common.
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  SPEAKER_00: Such monster trees of 6 to 10 foot wide bases that are truly spectacular.
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  The furrowed bark and tendency of the trees to lose limbs
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  easily create splendid
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  SPEAKER_00: habitat for a variety of birds,
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  SPEAKER_00: mammals,
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  SPEAKER_00: insects,
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  SPEAKER_00: and arachnids.
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  Studies have found dozens of animals that exploit the many
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  cavities that riddle
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  SPEAKER_00: cottonwoods,
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  SPEAKER_00: ranging from bats to woodpeckers to black bears.
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  Ospreys and bald eagles further exploit the platforms that form
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  from broken limbs.
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  Cottonwoods are also well known for their predilection for
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  reproducing from their
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  SPEAKER_00: stumps,
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  which is particularly effective for a tree that often topples
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  in wind and flood
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  SPEAKER_00: events.
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  But they generate new plants too when shedding or abscissoning
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  twigs with leaves.
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  SPEAKER_00: Botanists refer to this process of abscission as cladoptis,
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  SPEAKER_00: from the Greek for young branch and ptosis for or falling,
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  and have found that it may enable cottonwoods to quickly
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  colonize and stabilize
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  SPEAKER_00: sandbars.
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  SPEAKER_00: All members of the Gang of Poplars,
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  SPEAKER_00: another name for these trees,
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  SPEAKER_00: are trees of the riparian environment.
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  Because of their aquafilic ways,
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  cottonwoods were long seen as a reliable indicator of water.
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  This asset was especially important for travelers heading west
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  in the middle 1800s,
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  SPEAKER_00: who often were in search of water.
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  SPEAKER_00: With their wonderful and wide and leafy overstory,
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  SPEAKER_00: cottonwoods also provided a lovely shady location to avail oneself of.
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  Here in the land of big conifers that dwarf even the tallest
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  black cottonwood,
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  SPEAKER_00: the snow producers have long been overlooked.
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  I know that I didn't even realize they grew here until many
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  years ago when I was
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  working on a book chapter about what Seattle looked like
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  botanically in 1850.
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  As I was reading the notes of the region's first land and plant
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  surveyors who
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  worked for the General Land Office's cadastral survey between
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  1855 and 1862,
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  I kept coming across the name of a plant I had never
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  encountered,
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  Balm of Gilead.
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  The original Balm of Gilead originally referred to a biblical
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  medicinal ungain and
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  SPEAKER_00: now refers to any universal cure.
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  SPEAKER_00: For example,
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  SPEAKER_00: on August 25,
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  SPEAKER_00: 1855,
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  SPEAKER_00: along the shore of Lake Washington at Foster's Island,
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  SPEAKER_00: surveyors David Phillips and William A.
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  SPEAKER_00: Stricker noted two Balm of Gilead.
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  SPEAKER_00: They were inconsistent in their spelling.
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  SPEAKER_00: Here they wrote Balm Gilead.
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  SPEAKER_00: Six days later,
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  they noted more balm gileads along Lake Washington near
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  present-day Denny Blade
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  SPEAKER_00: Park.
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  SPEAKER_00: In Raymond Larson's master's thesis,
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  SPEAKER_00: The Flora of Seattle in 1850,
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  he wrote that Populus trichocarpa was of moderate abundance
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  along riparian areas
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  and that evidence for the trees could be found in addition to
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  the GLO notes in
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  SPEAKER_00: settlers' accounts and herbarium records.
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  Probably the most famous regional balm gilead was located in
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  Vancouver,
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  Washington.
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  SPEAKER_00: Legend holds that Lewis and Clark tied their canoe to it in 1805,
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  SPEAKER_00: that 19 years later,
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  the Hudson's Bay Company established their first trading post
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  under the shadow of
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  SPEAKER_00: the tree,
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  SPEAKER_00: that an HBC employee drove a copper railroad spike into the tree,
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  SPEAKER_00: which served as the zero point for all subsequent surveys,
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  and that one Amos Short established the town of Vancouver with
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  the layout,
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  SPEAKER_00: quote,
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  beginning at an old balm of Gilead tree on the bank of the
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  Columbia River,
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  SPEAKER_00: unquote.
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  SPEAKER_00: That witness tree passed into true infamy when,
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  SPEAKER_00: at 3.45 on a Sunday afternoon,
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  SPEAKER_00: it,
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  SPEAKER_00: quote,
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  SPEAKER_00: toppled into the Columbia River,
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  SPEAKER_00: where it now lies,
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  SPEAKER_00: all hope of ever preserving it,
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  SPEAKER_00: having vanished the moment that it fell,
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  SPEAKER_00: unquote,
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  SPEAKER_00: according to the Colombian newspaper of June 28,
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  SPEAKER_00: 1909.
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  SPEAKER_00: We may no longer refer to these stately trees as balm of Gilead,
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  SPEAKER_00: but I still think of them as bestowing a universal cure.
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  With Seattle's weather heating up again,
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  we're supposed to reach the upper 70s today.
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  SPEAKER_00: Heavens to Betsy.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm looking forward to the continued rain of cottonwood snowy seeds.
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  They at least give me the impression of coolness amid the
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  stifling heat we have to endure.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Once again,
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: this is David B.
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  SPEAKER_00: Williams,
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  SPEAKER_00: author and voice of the Street Smart Naturalist,
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  SPEAKER_00: Explorations of the Urban Kind,
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  a weekly newsletter and podcast focusing on the human and
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  natural world around
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  SPEAKER_00: Seattle,
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  SPEAKER_00: Puget Sound,
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  SPEAKER_00: and the Pacific Northwest.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like more details about my books,
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: walks,
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: and talks,
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: and a link to sign up for my newsletter and podcast,
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: check out my website,
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: geologywriter.com.
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  And don't forget to slow down,
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  pay attention,
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  and enjoy the world around you.