downy poplar vs cottonwood

downy poplar and cottonwood both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
downy poplar	Yes	No	No	No
cottonwood	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, cottonwood is a hypernym of downy poplar; that is, cottonwood is a word with a broader meaning than downy poplar:

downy poplar: North American poplar with large rounded scalloped leaves and brownish bark and wood
cottonwood: any of several North American trees of the genus Populus having a tuft of cottony hairs on the seed

downy poplar (noun)	cottonwood (noun)
North American poplar with large rounded scalloped leaves and brownish bark and wood	any of several North American trees of the genus Populus having a tuft of cottony hairs on the seed
	American basswood of the Allegheny region