Tree Talk: Quaking Aspen

We're trembling with excitement to discuss this tree - Populus tremuloides! Called quaking aspen, trembling aspen, or popple, this short tree with pioneer species ecology is full of surprises. It's the most widespread tree species in North America, with a range that stretches from high-elevation Mexico to Newfoundland and Labrador on the Atlantic Ocean, to above the Arctic Circle in Alaska. It is one of the most dominant tree species in the Rockies and is a valuable component of many other ecosystems as an early-successional tree. P. tremuloides is globally superlative as the most massive living organism on earth; its habit in the west of growing sprawling root systems which send up clonal trees gives us "Pando", an individual in Utah with up to 47,000 clonal stems which is believed to be up to 14,000 years old. Quaking aspen is renowned for its year-round beauty and charm, and tends to hold a special place in the hearts of those who know it.
"Where the deer bound, where the trout rise, where your horse stops to slather a drink from icy water while the sun is warm on the back of your neck, where every breath you draw is exhilaration - that is where the Aspens grow." - Douglas Culross Peatie, A Natural History of North American Trees
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Forests for the Bay has been funded by the US Forest Service for many years, and has allowed us to educate countless people on trees and their myriad benefits. Tree Talk is an extemporaneous lesson by Ryan Davis, recorded opportunistically by his wife Allyson while out and about in the landscapes they love. He sometimes gets things wrong because he's just speaking from memory, and the pop-ups and fact checks come from two sources: the US Forest Service Southern Research Station's accounts of the species at hand, and the 5th edition of North American Trees by Dr. Richard Preston Jr. and Dr. Richard Braham (Ryan's college dendrology professor) of North Carolina State University. This time some other sources were also used:
* Bark: A field Guide to Trees of the Northeast by Michael Wojtech
** US Forest Service - Southern Research Station account of Quaking Aspen: www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc...
***NASA Earth Observatory: earthobservatory.nasa.gov/ima...
Recorded on 7/1/23 in Wyoming County Pennsylvania, by Allyson "Popple" Davis.