I saw this Fremont's cottonwood bathed in sunlight
When I came around the bend in the canyon, I saw this Fremont's cottonwood bathed in the sunlight that was spilling over the top of the canyon wall. This isn't the first photo from my hike in Hualapai Canyon. In previous galleries we saw Havasu Falls, a landscape of Hualapai Canyon, and a Plateau Fence Lizard. One thing is certain; this canyon is full of wonder.
Sometimes when we see a tree, we just see another tree. For some of us, we get to see them every single day, and each tree begins to look like another. When I saw this tree, I had already seen a few dozen Fremont's cottonwood, but none struck me the way that this one did. As you can see, the tree sat solitarily in the middle of the canyon. Presumably this was the one portion of the canyon floor that was not trampled on by the daily hikers and also received enough sunlight over the canyon wall for a tree to grow. The walls of the Hualapai Canyon stretch up hundreds and even thousands of feet in some locations, so it is a wonder that there are places like this that receive enough sunlight.
Fremont's cottonwood is the common name for the tree with the scientific name Populus fremontii. It was named for the 19th century explorer John C. Frémont. Frémont was a great explorer of the western United States. As a species of cottonwood, this tree has a diamond shaped leaf. Cottonwoods are known for the distinct seed hairs that help to cultivate the seeds far and wide. The Fremont's cottonwood is distinct in that the leaves have fewer and larger serrations.
This cottonwood can be found in northern Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, California, Nevada, Texas, and Colorado. The largest Fremont's cottonwood was found in Arizona and measured 102 feet in height. An impressive specimen of this tree can be found in front of the lodge at Zion National Park.
Fremont's cottonwoods are found throughout the southwest United States and in Mexico
I hope you see the same brilliance in this tree as when I first saw it
In seeing this photo I hope that you can see the same brilliance of this tree as I did when I first came around the bend in the canyon. After reading this article, I challenge you to try to find a tree in your day-to-day that would be stark and contrasting for someone that is seeing it for the first time.
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