Grown in the open, the trunk usually divides near the ground into several massive limbs to form a broad, rounded crown, 80-100 feet in diameter. Leaves Leaves are simple, alternate, and deciduous. Leaf bases are heart-shaped. Leaf margins are coarsely serrate. Leaf surfaces are light green above, paler and glabrous below.
Petioles are smooth and flattened.
The flowers are unisexual and dioecious. The twigs are yellowish-brown and stout. The pith is star-shaped and homogeneous. The bark is yellowish-green, smooth, and thin at first, becoming thick, gray, and deeply furrowed between broad, flattened ridges on the largest trunks. The eastern cottonwood inhabits moist alluvial soils along streams, near lakes, and on rich, moist bottomlands.