This large Eastern Cottonwood is one of the oldest trees in Toronto's High Park. Located on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, the park contains some 58 indigenous burial and/or ceremonial mounds–all unmarked. The tree, about 6.5 metres in circumference, towers near some of them. The tree gets few visitors because of its location adjacent a rarely travelled forest path.

Those who do come by tend to ignore it. But for those who take the time to stop, a moment of quiet reflection under its boughs is rewarded. The Cottonwood has a long history of use in traditional medicine as an antimicrobial and to reduce pain and inflammation. This tree or its ancestors may have been a source of medicines for indigenous peoples who lived in the area for millennia up until the 19th Century.