Populus tremuloides
Origin: Utah
Improvement status: Wild
Seeds per packet: ~200
BOTANICAL SAMPLE - NOT GERMINATION TESTED
Life cycle: Perennial
Quaking aspen is an iconic birch-like poplar with round pointed leaves that quake or treble in the slightest breeze and turn a stunning yellow before dropping each fall. Aspens are perhaps best known for growing in huge clonal stands, like "Pando," a massive individual in Utah's Fishlake National Forest made up of tens of thousands of individual "trees" (really stems or "ramets") and widely considered the largest organism on earth (though some fungi are apparently vying for that title, now that we know more about them). Pando — a Latin word that means "I spread" — is estimated to weigh some 13 million pounds, covers 106 acres, and may also be the oldest organism in the world, with estimates ranging from 16,000 to 80,000 years old. A member of the willow family (Salicaceae), quaking aspens are also the most widespread North American tree species, found from Canada to central Mexico.
Aspens are not just nice to look at — and inspirational to ponder — for they have been used as food and medicine by Indigenous people for countless generations. The inner bark can be eaten raw or cooked, and is sometimes dried and ground into a flour to be mixed with other flours in bread dough or used as a thickener in soups. Apparently it is best used in spring. The sap can be tapped, like maple, and used as a refreshing drink or boiled into a syrup. The catkins are also edible, raw or cooked, but have a biter flavor.
Plants for a Future lays out its myriad medicinal uses: "It was widely employed medicinally by many native North American Indian tribes who valued it especially for its antiseptic and analgesic qualities, using it in the treatment of wounds, skin complaints and respiratory disorders. It is used for the same purposes in modern herbalism. The stem bark is anodyne, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, astringent, diaphoretic, diuretic, febrifuge, nervine and stimulant. The bark contains salicylates, from which the proprietary medicine aspirin is derived. It is used internally in the treatment of rheumatism, arthritis, gout, lower back pains, urinary complaints, digestive and liver disorders, debility, anorexia, also to reduce fevers and relieve the pain of menstrual cramps. Externally, the bark is used to treat chilblains, haemorrhoids, infected wounds and sprains. The bark is harvested from side branches or coppiced trees and dried for later use. An infusion of the inner bark is considered to be a remedy for coughs and an appetite stimulant, and it is also used in the treatment of stomach pains, urinary ailments, venereal disease, worms, colds and fevers. The root is poulticed and applied to cuts and wounds. A tea from the root bark is used as a treatment for excessive menstrual bleeding. The leaf buds are used as a salve for colds, coughs and irritated nostrils."
A fast-growing tree, it is often used for windbreaks and is known to quickly take over recently logged woodlands when its seeds are present nearby. The wood is soft, light, and weak, so it is mainly as pulp and for papermaking, though is also sometimes used for fences, railings, barn doors, crates, or boxes. It can be used to make high-quality paper.
Our Utah-grown seed comes from the good folks at Sheffield Seed in Locke, NY.
GROWING TIPS: Soak in water for six hours, then surface sow immediately. Needs no stratification, but stored seeds to not keep very long, so don't sit on these seeds. Best in USDA Zones 1-6.
NOTE: All images are in the public domain. The first shows a portion of the legendary Pando.
