The Great Grandfather of the Woods, sometimes referred to as Ol’ Harry, is the largest tree in Oliver’s Woods. This Great Grandfather is an eastern cottonwood tree, Populus deltoides. When they are young, eastern cottonwoods prefer more open spaces. This makes new cottonwood trees fairly uncommon in Oliver’s Woods. However the handful of cottonwoods that have made it to adulthood have grown to a massive size. In addition to their large stature, there are several other ways to identify eastern cottonwood trees.
Eastern cottonwoods have elephant gray bark with a blocky line pattern. They also produce tapering, almost heart shaped leaves that turn a greenish yellow in the fall. The trees also have red caterpillar shaped flowers in the spring called catkins that are pollinated by wind. After pollination the cottonwoods produce small fruits shaped like strands of little green pearls. Once these fruits mature they burst, sending out hundreds of seeds. These seeds are covered in soft white fibers that let them travel on the wind. When strong winds blow these seeds, it can look like hundreds of tiny cotton tufts floating through the air, hence the name cottonwood.
The eastern cottonwoods of Oliver’s Woods are some of the preserve’s greatest treasures. With its towering stature and wide trunk, it's hard to not think about the countless years that Ol’Harry has seen. The Great Grandfather of the forest embodies the timelessness of nature, and stands as a testament to the pricelessness of nature preserves like Oliver’s Woods.
written by Harry Cooper, OU Environmental Studies student
April 2023
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