Bigtooth Aspen / Populus grandidentata
Populus grandidentata
Common Name: Bigtooth Aspen
Type: Tree
Family: Salicaceae
Water Use: High
Light Requirement: Sun
Soil Moisture: Moist
Leaf: Green
Bloom Time: April
Autumn Foliage: yes
Fruit: Green
Size Class: 72-100 ft.
Big-tooth aspen is a columnar tree 50-75 ft. tall. Toothed leaves are cottony-white on the lower surface, especially when the tree is young. The slender trunk’s whitish bark, becomes furrowed at base and darker gray with age. Silvery catkins appear before leaves. Deciduous foliage becomes golden-yellow in fall.
Easily distinguishable from Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) by the large curved teeth of leaf edges, mentioned in both common and scientific names. Like that species, Bigtooth Aspen is a pioneer tree after fires and logging and on abandoned fields, short-lived and replaced by conifers. The foliage, twig buds, and bark are consumed by wildlife.
This fast-growing tree is very intolerant of shade and flooding. It invades cleared areas and reproduces rapidly from seed and root suckers. It is short-lived and plagued by disease and insect problems, but is practically indifferent to soil conditions. In any soil, weeding around the tree can boost its growth surprisingly. Aspen can be grown in a clump by periodically removing the older, damaged stems, allowing new sprouts to fill in.
Benefit
Use Wildlife: Aspens are host to a wide array of birds, mammals, and butterflies.
Use Other: Large-toothed aspen is important for revegetating recently cut or burned land, holding soil in place and protecting other slower-growing species of plants. (Kershaw)
Attracts: Butterflies
Larval Host: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Viceroy
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