The original tree cover has been removed for house-building, fuel, and in the middle ages, to clear pastures and meadows for cattle and sheep. Some trees would have been retained on the commons to provide fuel. Pollarded willows for the supply of withies [eg for basket making] would have been distinctive features of the landscape. There are still several along the older part of the lode near the village. Old coppice stools of Salix x basfordiana are relatively frequent and always associated with orchards and must have had a use related to fruit growing. There are the remains of two large poplars on the Twentypence Road. These seem to be Populus x canadensis and not the black poplar P. nigra.
The oldest groups of trees in the village are all oaks and occur at the Old Rectory and the Racecourse [along the eastern boundary]. No ancient woodland flora remains. The flora under these trees is typical of secondary woodland and is mostly species that can recolonise quickly from hedges. Oak seedlings are very common in the village and will have been spread by birds. The oaks in Cottenham form part of a distinct race and are quite different from oaks in other parts of the country.
Oldest hedges are at the Racecourse [NE boundary] and date from the first enclosures in the sixteen hundreds. Most of the other hedges date from 1842. These hedges consist mostly of hawthorn with other species seeded in such as elder, buckthorn, sloes, brambles, dog rose and the occasional tree seedling. Hedge flora which can spread rapidly has colonised almost all of these hedges.