Yesterday along M-26 up in the Keweenaw it looked like a snow storm - even though it was around 90. The air was filled with fluffy, some from the dandelions, some from trees my wife calls "cottonwood" (not sure if that's the correct name). Do we have any MTU Forestry folks out there?

Now this looks like a Calendar nominee! Beautiful.

Hey Taka, good job. It reminds me a bit of the reflecting disco balls....Happy summer!

Just a side note. As far as the tempature on the 26th is concerned, it was hotter here then the majority of the south (Louisana, the Carolinas, Georgia etc.) and in some cases 20 degrees warmer. Not the norm in the Cooper Country but I'm not complaining. I love it!

Charlie,
Your wife may be right, most likely the pollen is from trees in the family Salicaceae, which includes Aspen, Willows, and the Cottonwood along with others. Great picture!!

Cottonwood is the correct common name, Populus Deltoides:Marshall is in the willow "family", growing in Michigan.

Can get as tall as 100feet, very straight trunk, diameter of 6 feet when mature, pyramid shaped leaf crown. Big Tree!

The seed pod/capsule is filled with the fuzzy white seeds - which can really look like a snowbank up against a wall or sheltered area. The pods open just like the "regular" cotton bush pods, but they are only about 1/10th the size of a regular cotton pod. The pods open and dry into very sharp pointed sections which, if stepped on barefoot, can be quite painful. In TrollLand, these trees are considered nuisance because roots grow into sewer and waterlines, and will have huge surface roots that prohibit mowing near them, just like the "weeping willow". The fuzzies give fussy homeowners a pile to sweep about.

The tree doesn't make a very good telephone pole or firewood because it's a softwood. They grow very quickly and like swampy wetlands.

Looks like angel hair! Hey, I'm leaving VA to get away from the heat - well, mostly the traffic, but the heat too. So, cut that out!

Isn't a tree that loses it's leaves in the fall considered a 'hardwood'? The softwoods are the evergreens, pine, balsam, cedar etc, 'eh? I'm guessing the tamarack is a hardwood because of losing it's leaves (needles). It's an oddball, but I think they're pretty in the fall and in the spring.

If you enjoy the Pasty Cam and would like a more in-depth experience of life in the U.P., I highly recommend the Journal at A View From the Field. Sharon Smith shares pictures and comments from the perspective of a summer resident and her love affair with the Keweenaw.

A recent shot from Sharon's website goes well with the Pasty Cam pic above:

Isn't this just great, we can find beauty in a noxious weed! Beauty is everywhere if we think of it as beautiful. However, my neighbor planted a "silver maple" in his back yard, first maple I ever saw that the seed pods break open, form into fluffy white balls, and clog my lawn mower. This cottonwood, popple, or poplar does not make me see beauty!

Cottonwood, etc. is actually softer, I believe, than many/most conifers (needle trees, which I have never heard called softwood, maybe because I do not do woodworking). People use pine paneling, not willow. And, as any good yooper knows, the hardest wood makes the best firewood. Here in the west where we do not have maple (except in the neighbor's yard) or yellow birch, we use larch/tamarack as the best wood. The only thing cottonwood is good for is keeping the fire going when you don't want heat and don't mind a LOT of ash (for spring & fall afternoons before the evening chill sets in).

is it possible to get pictures of deciduous tree seed pods. it is for a school project