Scientific name: Populus tremula L.
Common name: Aspen
Description
Habit: A deciduous tree, to 24 m high, usually with numerous suckers.
Leaves: Alternate, long-stalked, often with small stipules that fall early, undivided, broadly oval or nearly round, coarsely, bluntly and irregularly toothed, hairless, pale green, 3-5 cm across; leaves trembling in the slightest wind; leaves of the suckers may be hairy, pointed and more regularly toothed.
Flowers: Dioecious, appearing before leaves, small and numerous in slender and pendulous catkins 5-8 cm long; solitary in axils of catkin bracts that are irregularly fringed or toothed; parts reduced; perianth minute and cup-shaped; male flowers with 12 stamens; female flowers with 1-celled ovary, numerous ovules, short style and 2 stigmas.
Fruits: A small capsule, containing minute seeds, each with a tuft of silky hairs.
Twigs: Grey, buds hairless and protected by several scale-leaves.
Bark: Young bark smooth and greenish grey, old bark grey with ridges.
Habitat: Woods, scrub, hedges.Distribution: Occasional.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No