Quaking aspen

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More names for this tree

Anishinaabemowin: Azaadi

The Dakota and Anishinaabe were among the earliest people to name Minnesota’s plants and animals, as well as to understand them in relation to Minnesota’s climate and seasons. Those original names are still in use, and several are included on the Season Watch website. However, complete translations were not available.

Latin (or scientific name): Populus tremuloides

The scientific community has a convention of assigning agreed-upon Latin names to every kind of organism. Using scientific names helps people communicate confidently about the same organism and organize lifeforms based on how closely related they are.

More common names: Trembling aspen

 

 

Page contents

About the quaking aspen

Visual guide to phenology

Graphs and historical data

More resources

Image looking at the forest edge. Dense aspen trees have straight, pale gray trunks and golden leaves. Also in the forest are some spruce, which are only half as tall as the aspens.
Autumn scene of forest with dense aspen trees.
September 18, 2019, Cook County, Minnesota
Photo © Paul Marcum, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)
iNaturalist observation

About the quaking aspen

  • Quaking aspens can be identified by their white or light grey bark and light green, oval-shaped leaves.
  • A short-lived tree, quaking aspen may only live fifty to sixty years.
  • The fruits of quaking aspen grow in clusters called catkins. When the fruits are ripe, they look like long, cottony caterpillars hanging off the ends of twigs.
  • Quaking aspen is fire-adapted and is one of the first trees to re-sprout after a forest fire.
  • In the fall, quaking aspen leaves turn a bright golden yellow.
  • Fun fact: The stalk that attaches a quaking aspen leaf to a branch is flat and angled. This creates the shaking or quaking quality of the leaves, giving the tree its name. This may be an adaptation to shake insects off of the leaves.

Visual guide to phenology

Watch for the appearance of leaves, flowers, and fruits. Take notice of when flowers open and fruits ripen.

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Note to observers

This page explains general clues to watch for when observing quaking aspen phenology. However, this page does not instruct observers on how to identify this plant or collect data in a standardized way.

Close-up of a flower bud at the tip of a twig.
In the foreground, the tip of an aspen twig has dark red flower buds and one dead leaf from last year. In the background are pale gray trunks of more aspen trees.
The tip of the twig is dark red and has flower buds breaking open. Inside the open buds, pale gray, silver tufts are appearing.
A close-up image showing fuzzy gray flowers growing out of brown, shiny buds.
Aspen flowers form long fuzzy tassels that droop off the ends of the gray-brown twigs. Flowers with this general structure are called a catkins.
Aspen tree in sunshine with bright lime-green leaves. The flowers are now gone and fruits have formed. The fruits are small green capsules that develop in clusters.
Gray aspen twig with bright green leaves, about six are in focus. Behind the leaves are green fruits that are splitting open to release fuzzy white seeds.
Ripe fruit of the aspen is in focus. The capsules that were green are now just fragments of pale brown. Many white fluffy seeds have dispersed, but a few remain attached.
Brilliant yellow leaves in an aspen forest. Some of the leaves have reddish stalks and a few brown spots.
Image looking up at a blue sky through an aspen canopy. A few yellow leaves remain, but many have already fallen.
A shiny, pointed bud at the tip of a dark-red twig. This short colored twig branches off of a larger gray twig.

Graphs and historical data

Note: The Orientation Center provides a map, as well as information on reading graphs; interpreting summary statistics, who collected the data and how; and how to download datasets for independent exploration.


Hubbard County

Leaf budbreak

  • Earliest: April 5 (occurred in 2012)
  • Average: April 28
  • Latest: May 20 (occurred in 1997)
Scatterplot showing quaking aspen phenology observations in Hubbard County, Minnesota

Download this dataset (.csv file)

Itasca County

Leaf budbreak

  • Earliest: April 2 (occurred in 2012)
  • Average: May 1
  • Latest: May 17 (occurred in 2014)
Scatterplot showing quaking aspen phenology observations in Itasca County, Minnesota

Download this dataset (.csv file)

Flowering

  • Earliest: February 7 (occurred in 2006)
  • Average: May 23
  • Latest: April 15 (occurred in 2009)
Scatterplot showing quaking aspen phenology observations in Itasca County, Minnesota

Download this dataset (.csv file)

First seed drop

  • Earliest: April 24 (occurred in 2001)
  • Average: May 20
  • Latest: May 31 (occurred in 1996 and 2008)
Scatterplot showing quaking aspen phenology observations in Itasca County, Minnesota

Download this dataset (.csv file)

All leaves colored

  • Earliest: September 20 (occurred in 1986)
  • Average: September 29
  • Latest: October 11 (occurred in 1985)
Scatterplot showing quaking aspen phenology observations in Itasca County, Minnesota

Download this dataset (.csv file)

Ramsey County

Leaf budbreak

  • Earliest: April 10 (occurred in 1987)
  • Average: April 29
  • Latest: May 16 (occurred in 1950)
Scatterplot showing quaking aspen phenology in Ramsey County, Minnesota

Download this dataset (.csv file)

More resources

Listen to KAXE/KBXE broadcasts tagged "aspen"

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) in the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) in Nature's Notebook

Cold winter temperature can accelerate the timing of spring budbreak, synopsis of a journal publication by Claudia Nanninga, Chris R Buyarski, Andrew M Pretorius, Rebecca A Montgomery (2017) in Tree Physiology 37: 1727–1738.

 

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Times of year

Co-author: Audrey Negro, Minnesota Master Naturalist