Indigenous Trees – Aspen

Aspens, originally uploaded to flickr by Pink Pepper Photo

From British Trees -

Aspen (Populus tremula)

Explanation of Latin name: The Latin name means trembling poplar. The name Populus is derived from arbor populi, the ‘tree of the people’. Populus is also the Latin form of the Greek papaillo meaning to shake, a reference to the fluttering leaves Tremula is used because the leaves tremble in the breeze. Other poplars make a similar sound but the aspen has loosely toothed leaves which increase the effect. They sound like a rustling whisper as if being spattered by rain drops.

Description: fast growing, deciduous.

• Shape: The aspen has a broad open crown, is lightly branched with twisting branches. The lower branches are often horizontal.
• Leaves: The shoots are tiny and deep brown, the leaf buds yellow and deep brown and slightly sticky. The leaves are almost circular, with large rounded teeth and taper to a small point. The stalks are as long as the leaves and are flat and very flexible. They join the leaves at right angles. The leaves are 3 – 8 cm across. They unfold copper-brown but change to a dull rich greyish-green above and pale grey-green beneath. They are slightly hairy when young but hairless later. In autumn they are a good clear yellow before falling.
• Flowers: Aspen is a member of the willow family, and like all willows it has separate male and female trees. The technical term for this is ‘dioecious’. Before the leaves appear the flowers on male trees are dense dangling catkins, 11 cm long and grey-brown. When they have shed their pollen the catkins turn reddish-brown and fall to the ground soon after. On female trees catkins of a similar length are green with brown bracts.
• Fruit: The female trees catkins produce two little capsules with tiny seeds inside. These are attached to small cottony grey hairs to help with dispersal. In mid May these catkins are woolly and white. They shed their seeds soon afterwards.
• Bark: The bark is grey-green getting darker when the tree is older. It is ridged in older trees.
• Height: 20 to 30 metres tall
• Where found: Found all over Europe, North Africa, Turkey and Siberia. It is frequently found in damp hillsides, rocky valley bottoms, hedges and copse edges. It will grow in a wide range of different soils but loves moisture and light. It is a deep rooted tree that is not damaged by frost but hates to be too dry or too hot. It grows from airbourne seeds, but also spreads itself to form small groves by suckers from the roots. The movement of the leaves allows light to fall on the plants under it so a rich variety of wild flowers can grow there. It is mature in 50 years.

Phenology:

Flowers Leaves Fruit Ripen Fall
March April/May May October

Uses past & present:

In Medieval times the timber was used to build houses for the poor who could not afford to use oak. The wood is soft but it lasts well if it is kept dry. It is light, white or pale yellow and not splintery. The bark was used for tanning leather, for turning objects made on a lathe and for making barrels. The charcoal made from aspen was considered best for the making of gunpowder. It has always been used for making clogs but Henry 5th protected it against it being used for this purpose as it was so good for making arrows. Nowadays it is used for making matches, clogs, and pulp for paper and card. It is also good for producing lightweight boxes for fruit and vegetables and for veneer and plywood.

Beavers use aspen bark as their principal food and deer, sheep, goats and cattle like to eat the leaves more then those of any other tree.

Similar species: Grey Poplar, but aspen leaves have no hairs beneath and they flutter more readily.

Folklore & History of this species: The aspen was one of the first trees to return to Britain after the Ice Age, 9000 years ago. It is therefore considered to be a ‘native’ tree.

In Wales, it was believed that the aspen could never rest because it was cursed as ‘the tree on which Christ was crucified’. Many other traditions explain the trembling of the leaves in a similar way. In Scotland for example, aspen wood is little used because of the tree’s folklore. Grigson, however, offers a rather cynical postscript: ‘if the timber had been tougher, harder, more durable and more valuable, perhaps the legends would have been different’ . From: The Tree Book- the indispensable guide to tree facts, crafts and folklore. J.Edward Milner

Propagation and growth: Natural distribution by airborne seed. Should not be planted near buildings or drains. Seed quickly lose their vigour but fresh seed germinate quickly. Unlike Black poplar and hybrids not easy to grow from sets.

From wikipedia -

Populus tremula (Aspen, or Common Aspen or Eurasian Aspen to distinguish it from related species) is a species of poplar native to cool temperate regions of Europe and Asia, from the British Isles east to Kamchatka, north to inside the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia and northern Russia, and south to central Spain, Turkey, the Tian Shan, North Korea, and northern Japan. It also occurs at one site in northwest Africa in Algeria. In the south of its range, it occurs at high altitudes in mountains.^[1][2]

Adult (left) and juvenile (right) leaves

It is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 10–25 m tall, with a trunk up to 1 m diameter. The bark is pale greenish-grey and smooth on young trees with dark grey diamond-shaped lenticels, becoming dark grey and fissured on older trees. The adult leaves, produced on branches of mature trees, are nearly round, slightly wider than long, 2–8 cm diameter, with a coarsely toothed margin and a laterally flattened petiole 4–8 cm long. The flat petiole allows them to tremble in even slight breezes, and is the source of its scientific name. The leaves on seedlings and fast-growing stems of root sprouts are very different, heart-shaped to nearly triangular, and often much larger, up to 20 cm long; their petiole is also less flattened. The flowers are wind-pollinated catkins produced in early spring before the new leaves appear; they are dioecious, with male and female catkins on different trees. The male catkins are patterned green and brown, 5–10 cm long when shedding pollen; the female catkins are 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. The fluff assists wind dispersal of the seeds when the capsules split open at maturity.^[1][3]

It can be distinguished from the closely related North American Populus tremuloides by the leaves being more coarsely toothed.^[1]

Ecology

It is a very hardy species and tolerates long, cold winters and short summers.

Like other aspens, it spreads extensively by root sprouts, which may be produced up to 40 m from the parent tree, forming extensive clonal colonies.^[1][3]

The hybrid with Populus alba (White Poplar), known as Grey Poplar Populus × canescens, is widely found in Europe and central Asia. Hybrids with several other aspens have also been bred at forestry research institutes in order to find trees with greater timber production and disease resistance (e.g. P. tremula × P. tremuloides, bred in Denmark^[4]).

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Rushforth, K. (1999). Trees of Britain and Europe. Collins ISBN 0-00-220013-9.
2. ^ Den Virtuella Floran: Populus tremula (in Swedish; with maps)
3. ^ ^{a b} Trees for Life Species Profile: Aspen
4. ^ Jensen, N. (1994). Guide til Arboretet i Hørsholm (in Danish).

From Trees Mystical World Wide Web -

The leaves of the Aspen tree were believed to tremble continually, hence it also being known as the ‘shivering tree’. The Greek word ‘kepkis’, which means ‘shuttle’, was given to this tree because of the action of the leaves, quivering back and forth all the time. There are many legends connected with the Aspen.

One is thought to stem from the belief that the cross on which Christ was crucified was made from the wood of the Aspen tree. Belief has it that the tree was filled with grief and remorse at being connected with the Crucifixion. (See also Mystical-WWW : Easter) The Aspen was the only tree reputed not to bend with compassion as the Passion and continues to tremble as a result.
A traditional legend from Germany is associated with the Holy Family. They were walking in a forest and all the trees bowed reverently. The only tree that didn’t was the Aspen. It is said that the Holy Child cursed the tree, and the leaves began to tremble. It is also said that the tree has continued to do so ever since.

Traditional German Poem
‘Once as our Saviour walked with men below,
His path of mercy through a forest lay;
And mark how all the drooping branches show
What homage best a silent tree may pay!
Only the aspen stands erect and free,
Scorning to join the voiceless worship pure;
But see! He casts one look upon the tree,
Struck to the heart, she trembles evermore!’

Sir Walter Scott
‘O woman! In our hours of ease
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please,
And variable as the shade
By the light quivering Aspen made.’
Traditional Russian Proverb
‘There is an accursed tree
which trembles without even a breath of wind.’

The movement of Aspen leaves have been associated by Gerarde with women’s tongues. A rather ungracious association as they ‘seldome cease wagging’. He also said the tongue itself has been made of the leaf itself. The Aspen has also been thought to help cure fevers being seen to have curative powers, but only if the following was carried out at night. The nail clippings of the sick person should be taken and placed in a hole cut in the trunk that should then be covered again to seal the tree.