Populous tremuloides quaking aspen

WILLOW family

Habitat: wide ranging elevations from moist forest to edge of grasslands & shrub-steppe in soils with lateral water flow, but not saturated. Shade intolerant. Up to 100 feet tall

Leaves: nearly round, pointed tip, finely toothed, deep green above, paler below, stalk flattened in cross-section. Turns yellow in fall

Fruits: slender, cone-shaped capsules filled with tiny brown seeds with white fluffy hairs

Bark: smooth green-gray to white, becoming rough and black-scarred with age. Does not peel- lacks horizontal lenticels