Quaking Aspen tree

Description

Populus tremuloides is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America, one of several species referred to by the common name aspen. It is commonly called quaking aspen, trembling aspen, American aspen, mountain or golden aspen, trembling poplar, white poplar, and popple, as well as others. The trees have tall trunks, up to 25 meters (82 feet) tall, with smooth pale bark, scarred with black. The glossy green leaves, dull beneath, become golden to yellow, rarely red, in autumn. The species often propagates through its roots to form large clonal groves originating from a shared root system. These roots are not rhizomes, as new growth develops from adventitious buds on the parent root system (the ortet). Populus tremuloides is the most widely distributed tree in North America, being found from Canada to central Mexico. It is the defining species of the aspen parkland biome in the Prairie Provinces of Canada and extreme northwest Minnesota. Quaking aspen is a tall, fast-growing tree, usually 15–18 meters (50–60 ft) at maturity, with a trunk 25 centimeters (10 in) in diameter; records are 36.5 m (119 ft 9 in) in height and 1.37 m (4 ft 6 in) in diameter. The bark is relatively smooth, whitish (light green when young), and is marked by thick black horizontal scars and prominent black knots. Parallel vertical scars are tell-tale signs of elk, which strip off aspen bark with their front teeth. The leaves on mature trees are nearly round, 4–6 cm (1+1⁄2–2+1⁄4 in) in diameter with small rounded teeth, and a 3–7 cm (1+1⁄4–2+3⁄4 in) long flattened petiole. The leaves are green above and gray below. Young trees and root sprouts have much larger (10–20 cm, 4–8 in long), nearly triangular leaves. (Some species of Populus have petioles flattened partially along their length, while the aspens and some other poplars have them flattened from side to side along the entire length of the petiole.