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Populus tremuloides
Also called American Aspen, Trembling Aspen, Aspen Poplar, Quiver Leaf, Giant Aspen, Pando, Mountain Aspen
Quaking aspen is a fast-growing, deciduous tree of cool northern and mountain regions, and the most widely distributed tree in North America. It forms large clonal groves from a shared root system, and it needs good drainage with moist soil to thrive.
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 metres (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.
The quaking aspen is the state tree of Utah.
The cultivar 'Prairie Gold' was introduced to the plant trade by the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum and a local nursery with a claim that it is better adapted the warmer conditions and lower humidity of lower elevations. It is rated as hardy only to USDA zone 4.
Quaking aspen occurs across Canada in all provinces and territories, with the possible exception of regions of Nunavut north of the James Bay islands. In the United States, it can be found as far north as the northern foothills of the Brooks Range in Alaska, where road margins and gravel pads provide islands of well-drained habitat in a region where soils are often waterlogged due to underlying permafrost. It occurs at low elevations as far south as northern Nebraska and central Indiana. In the Western United States, this tree rarely survives at elevations lower than 1,500 feet (460 m) due to hot summers experienced below that elevation, and is generally found at 5,000–12,000 feet (1,500–3,700 m).
Aspen bark contains a substance that was extracted by indigenous North Americans and European settlers of the western U.S. as a quinine substitute.
White Poplar · Balsam poplar · Himalayan Poplar · Eastern cottonwood · Bigtooth aspen · Tana River poplar · Black Poplar · Populus pruinosa · Simon poplar · Eurasian Aspen · Western Balsam Poplar · Yunnan poplar
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Populus tremuloides by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
