Shape round-topped, 20-60 ft. tall. Bark greenish white to yellowish brown on young parts, though with dark blotches below the branches, smooth except on very old trunks which become dark and furrowed. Branches slender, often drooping at the ends. Twigs smooth, shiny, tan. Buds slender, shining, scarcely sticky, red. Leaves blue-green with whitish veins, on long flattened stalks. Range: Newf. to the Yukon, s. to N. J. and the mts. of Pa. and Ky., through the Middle West and along the Rockies to Mex., through the Southwest to centr. and s. Calif. This graceful tree with almost birch-like bark, at times, and restless, talkative foliage, is one of the most widespread in the country. Quite common even in the east, it becomes abundant—the commonest deciduous tree, in many parts of the far west and far north. It probably goes as far north as any tree in the barrens of Canada, and in the western mountains it fills the glens and follows water courses and lakes. “With its slender, pendulous branches and shimmering leaves and pale bark, the aspen enlivens the spruce forests of the north and marks steep mt. slopes with broad bands of color, light green in summer and in autumn glowing like gold against backgrounds of dark cliffs and stunted pines” (Sargent). The aspen, in the West, should not be confused with the various cottonwoods ([which see].) The cottonwoods too have dancing, whispering leaves, but the aspens are known by the fact that the terminal bud of each twig is small and scarcely at all gummy, while cottonwoods have big, sticky buds.
Quaking Aspen
Large Toothed Aspen
LARGE TOOTHED ASPEN
(Populus grandidentata)
Shape a rather narrow round topped head, up to 90 ft. tall. Bark smooth, grayish, rough only on old trunks. Twigs stout, reddish brown, gray downy in Spring. Buds big, dusty-looking, only slightly sticky. Leaves on flattened stalks, turning gold in Fall. Range: N. S. to Ont. and Minn., Ill., and Ind., s. in the mts. to N. C. The wood is used for excelsior, pulp, and cheap lumber. SWAMP BLACK POPLAR (Populus heterophyla) is a similar tree but with rough dark bark and darker twigs, larger, heart-shaped leaves with finely scalloped margins, the undersides downy, veiny, and with yellow midrib. Swamps from La. north to Ill. and around the coast to Conn. WILLOW LEAVED POPLAR (Populus angustifolia) has smooth bark and long, narrow leaves, quite unlike any others. This is a favorite street tree in western cities; native from Assin. to Nev., Ariz. and N. Mex.
Carolina Cottonwood
CAROLINA COTTONWOOD
(Populus balsamifera)
Trunks often forking from the base, often leaning. Bark gray green; in age gray, furrowed, with braiding ridges. Twigs ocher, sometimes corky ridged. Buds sticky, brown. Leaves with a translucent border, paler beneath, yellow in fall. Range: Que. and N. B. to Fla., Tex. and Kans. A small tree of shores and low plains, with rainy-sounding, twinkling foliage, sending forth at fruiting time clouds of downy seeds. FREMONT COTTONWOOD (Populus Fremontii) has leaves tapering at tip, not paler beneath. Centr. Calif. to N. Mex. and s. Colo. GREAT PLAINS POPLAR (Populus Sargentii) has lighter yellow twigs, hoary buds, leaves broader than long, lighter green, fewer toothed. High plains and mts. from Albt. to w. Tex. and N. Mex. Groves of this tree, sighted by pioneers, indicated the presence of water. From their flimsy wood were run up the first towns of the old West.
