Aspen; American Aspen Populus tremuloides
A medium sized tree, 30 to 60 feet high, with a smooth, greenish gray bark and tapering trunk. The twigs are slender. The buds are long, sharp-pointed, with smooth, glossy scales covered with a gummy substance. Alternate leaf-scars.
The aspen is more conspicuous in summer, when the constant motion of its trembling leaves attracts our attention, than it is in winter, although in some trees the smooth, olive-green bark of the trunk is very attractive, particularly in contrast with the snow. There have been endless allusions in literature to the European aspen, which resembles our species. In a simile showing the activity of Penelope’s maidens, Homer says:—
“Some ply the loom; their busy fingers move
Like poplar leaves when zephyr fans the grove.”
Again Spenser uses the same simile:—
“His hand did quake
And tremble like a leaf of aspen green.”
And Sir Walter Scott uses it in the same way to picture quick changes of facial expression:—
“With every change his features played,