Cottonwood Cotton

This photo may look funny but it is of a small cluster of seeds off of our cottonwood trees that are so common here in New Mexico. There are very tiny seeds in the 'cotton'. The cotton is so light it 'flies' everywhere after the trees have their almost un-noticeable flowers on the female trees. The male trees do have a sort of flower that is needed to pollinate the female flowers but they don't have the cotton with their flowers. Most of the hybrid cottonwood trees that are sold in plant nurseries and non-flowering as most people don't want the mess of the cotton in their yards.