TreeTuesday - An Eastern Cottonwood Beauty Contestant

My first ever #treetuesday is about a large eastern cottonwood which was candidate for L’Arbre de l’année Québec (Tree of the year Quebec) in 2016.

It was submitted by a citizen who grew up in the area, and who can attest to the centennial tree's already impressive size back in the days when he was still a boy.

The provincial contest was inspired by the European Tree of the Year.

This Populus deltoides can be found along a walking alley at the Parc Nicolas-Viel. This public park is located in the Montreal Island's borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville.

The trunk of this tree is as wide as the lenght of my bicycle.

It doesn't even fit inside the frame of a single picture.

Here you can see it among other smaller trees in a photo I took on another day.

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Specifications*

Species' scientific name: Populus deltoides
Vulgar name(s): eastern cottonwood or necklace poplar
Section: Aigeiros
Genus: Populus
Family: Salicaceae
Order: Malpighiales
Clade: Eudicots
Life expectancy: 70 to 100 years, and up to potentially 200 to 400 years
Symbolism: official state tree of Kansas

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_{*source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populus_deltoides}

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Something else caught my attention near that star made of branches & leaves: an historic monument.

On each side of the stele there is writings in French. Let me translate for you what it says.

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IN THESE RAPIDS
THE RECOLLET FATHER
NICOLAS VIEL
AND HIS HURON NEOPHYTE
AHUNTSIC
FIRST CANADIAN MARTYRS
WERE THROWN IN HATRED OF THE FAITH
BY THEIR PAGAN GUIDES
THE 25TH OF JUNE 1625.
THIS PLACE
HAS SINCE BEEN KNOWN
UNDER THE NAME OF
SAULT-AU-RÉCOLLET.

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IN MEMORY
OF THE THIRD CENTENARY
OF THE
FIRST MASS OF CANADA
CELEBRATED ON THE BANK
OF THE RIVIÈRE-DES-PRAIRIES
BY THE RECOLLET FATHER
DENIS JAMET
ASSISTED BY FATHER
JOSEPH LE CARON
IN PRESENCE OF CHAMPLAIN
THE 24TH OF JUNE 1615
THE SOCIÉTÉ SAINT-JEAN-BAPTISTE
OF MONTREAL
ERECTED THIS MONUMENT
THE 24TH OF JUNE 1915

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This is of historic significance because Samuel de Champlain is considered to be The Father of New France.