Arapaho: bíiit or nonookoxooti’
English: Quaking aspen
Navajo: Ts’iisbéií
Spanish: Álamo temblón
Natural history
Quaking Aspen is a tall straight-trunked tree common throughout the mountains of Colorado from 6000 to 11,700 feet where it is grows alongside spruce, pine, and fir trees, often forming large pure stands on mountain slopes. Its tendency to form such homogenous stands is due to its ability to reproduce asexually, which allows an individual to sprout many genetically identical clones from its root system. In fact, one large stand of Quaking aspen in Fishlake National Forest in central Utah has been found to consist entirely of clones from one individual, making it a single “superorganism” and is regarded as among the largest and oldest organisms in the world.
Populus tremuloides has the widest natural distribution of any tree in North America and is easily identifiable at any time of year by its characteristic smooth white bark. However, it is perhaps most easily identified during the fall when its leaves turn color due to the seasonal breakdown of chlorophyll in its leaves, painting many mountain slopes around Durango and throughout much of the higher latitudes of North America a vivid golden yellow in the process. Its leaves can be oval to heart-shaped with a flattened leaf steam often forming a right angle where it connects to the base of the leaf.
References:
Ackerfield, Jennifer. 2022. Flora of Colorado. Fort Worth, TX: Brit Press.
Burns, R. M. and B. H. Honkala. 1990. Silvics of North America. Retrieved from Silvics Manual Volume 1-Conifers and Volume 2-Hardwoods: https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/ag_654/table_of_contents.htm (2024, November 16)
Eckenwalder, J. E. 2010. Populus, in Flora of North America Editorial Committee [eds.] Flora of North America North of Mexico, Vol. 7. Oxford University Press, New York.
Henningson, A. V. 2012. Pando Clone (World's Largest Living Organism?) History and Evaluation, Case Study for Revalidation. Unpublished. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8701&context=aspen_bib (2024, November 16)
Photo credit:
Photos by Mike Jacob.