FIELD GUIDE
NO.
009
Quaking Aspen
Populus tremuloides
FAMILY: Salicaceae — Willow family
ORDER: Malpighiales
GENUS: Populus
AT A GLANCE
SIZE
40 – 100 feet
STATUS
Least Concern
HABITAT
Mountain slopes, moist benches, forest openings and edges, and in areas disturbed by fire or other event.
RANGE
The widest geographic distribution of any native North American tree, extending from Alaska and Canada south into Mexico.
DIET
Abundant sunlight, moisture, and well drained soil.
SEASONS
Year-round
LIFE SPAN
Individual stems and trunk live less than 150 years, but the root system can persist for thousands of years.
WHAT TO NOTICE
– Tall, narrow trunks topped with a fluffy canopy of green leaves.
– White to greenish bark marked with dark horizontal lines and eye-like shapes where branches once grew.
– Lightweight, rounded leaves that flutter, tremble and spin, even in a light breeze.
– Often growing at higher altitudes in cool mountain environments
– Commonly found in colonies and groves, rather than as solitary trees.
HOW IT LIVES:
What appears to be an entire forest of aspen may actually be a single individual, growing as a colony of genetically identical trees.
They share a common root system, and multiply by sending up suckers from their shared shallow root system.
Ecologically they provide food and habitat for numerous insects, birds and mammals while also providing places for breeding, nesting, resting and hiding. Elk browse the bark, sprouts and branch tips. Mule deer use aspen as forage, and beavers consume bark, leaves and twigs while also using stems in dams and lodges
THE INTERESTING PART
Quaking aspen are the largest living organism on earth. Aspen commonly reproduces vegetatively. A cluster of apparently separate trees may be genetically identical stems arising from the same root system – a clone.
One extraordinary example is “Pando”, a single organism growing as a colony located in Utah organism sharing a common root system covering over 100 acres.
Aspen trees are sometimes called the “fire tree” because they can regenerate rapidly after wildfire removes a forest. The sudden availability of sunlight stimulates new growth from the surviving root system.
WHERE I FOUND IT:
I have lived under the shade of the aspen trees in my mountain home in Colorado for thirty years. They fill my window panes with color. A green bouquet all summer and a vibrant spectrum of yellows, oranges and reds in the fall, and a roost for birds all winter. As indicators of moisture, the aspen trees send messages through the colors of their leaves all season. You can almost read the wind-speed by watching their leaves turn and tremble on their petioles.
WORDS TO KNOW:
Deciduous – Describes a tree or plant that seasonally sheds its leaves, usually in autumn.
Petiole – The stalk connecting the leaf blade to a twig. In aspen the petiole is flattened, allowing the individual leaf to twist, flutter and “quake” in even the lightest breeze.
Taxonomy – The scientific system used to identify, name and organize living things into related groups.
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