TREMBLING ASPEN
populus tremuloides

• also known as Quaking Aspen, Quivering Aspen, Quaking Asp, Golden Aspen, Mountain Aspen, Trembling Poplar, Popple
• some native peoples called this tree "noisy leaf"

UNIQUE FEATURES:

• the leaves quiver or tremble at the slightest breeze
• can sprout from root suckers
• quick growing but short lived (around 50 years)
• food for the beaver, moose, elk and deer, nesting in rotten trunks for birds

LOCATION:

• throughout BC
• east of the Coast Ranges
• narrow band along east coast of Vancouver Island
• very common in the northeast corner of BC
• likes well drained, moist soils rich in calcium

SIZE:

• up to 25 metres tall

FRUIT:

• tiny, down-covered capsules, full of seeds

FLOWERS:

• male catkins: 2 to 3 cm long female catkins: 4 to 10 cm long female and male catkins are found on separate trees
• appear with or before leaves

LEAVES:

• round to triangular shape
• pointed tip and edges round-tipped
• stalk is flattened so leaf can 'tremble' or move at the slightest breeze
• smooth, dark green with a paler underside, turns yellow in the fall

BARK:

• smooth, greenish white turning blackish and roughened at the base when mature
• doesn't peel
• black scars show where branches once grew
• often show scars of bears and other animals

WOOD CHARACTERISTICS:

• soft, brittle, not durable

USES:

• modern - pulp, waferboard, chopsticks, early settlers derived a quinine-like substance from the inner bark, boiled branches made a cleanser for guns, traps and to remove human scent from hunters
• traditional - inner bark: food (raw or roasted); wood: tent poles, fuels, canoes - rotten wood was used to line babies' cradles because it was soft; bark/roots: chewed and applied to wounds to stop the bleeding