Populus tremula
Common name: 
European Aspen
European Trembling Aspen
European Quaking Aspen
Pronunciation: 
pop-U-lus TREM-ew-la
Family: 
Salicaceae
Genus: 
Type: 
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
No
  • Broadleaf deciduous tree, to about 65 ft (20 m) in cultivation, broad crown, much branched, suckering.   Bark smooth, yellow-gray.  Leaves alternate, simple, oval to subovicular, 3-8 cm long, base with 2 glands, truncate or cordate, margins undulate, crenate-serrate, gray-green above, pale-green below, petiole, slender, strongly flattened.  Note: The leaves on seedlings and fast-growing stems of suckers are very different, they are heart-shaped to nearly triangular, often much larger, and petioles are less flattened.  The plants are dioecious - with male and female catkins on different trees.   Male catkins are green and brown, 5-8 cm long, white-hairy at pollination.  Female catkins ar green, 2-4 cm long at pollination, maturing in early summer to bear 10-20 capsules each containing numerous tiny seeds embedded in downy fluff ("cotton").
  • Sun or part shade
  •  Hardy to USDA Zone 2         Native range includes northwest Europe, north Africa, Siberia and western Asia.
  • tremula: Latin, quivering, trembling
  • 'Erecta'  -  very narrow, columnar tree with upright branches, matures at about a height of 40 ft and only 7 ft wide (12 × 2.7 m)

 

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  • leaves

    leaves