Cottonwood Tree Star

If you break a dry Cottonwood twig that has fallen from the tree, you'll find a star inside.
To find the stars, look for the growth wrinkles in the bark of Cottonwood tree branches and twigs; cut or snap them. You won’t see the star in every branch, if the twig is too green or too old, it won’t appear.
According to Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes, they believed that this is where the stars in the sky come from. According to this legend, the wind sent them to the sky from the trees.  There is also another legend that the stars hide there during the day. The Lakota use the cottonwood tree as the ‘tree of life’ in their Sundance ceremony because of the star shape found in the pith.
Another lore is "All things come from Mother-Earth. Stars are no exception. They form secretly in the earth and then drift along just under the surface until they find the roots of the magical Cottonwood tree. They enter the roots and slowly work their way up through the tree. Finally they come to rest in the small twigs at the end of the branches. Here they wait patiently until they are needed. Then when the 'Spirit-of-the-night-sky' decides she needs more beautiful stars to light up the heavens, she calls on the Wind-spirit to help her and he sends wind gusts so hard that the twigs of the cottonwood tree begin to break off. As each twigs break off the stars are released and race up to a special place in the sky. Now the new stars twinkle brightly with a thank you.”