European Aspen, (in Europe: Trembling Aspen or Quaking Aspen)         pop-U-lus TREM-ew-la

• Broadleaf deciduous tree, to about 65 ft (20 m) in cultivation, broad crown, much branched, suckering.   Bark smooth, yellow-gray.  Leaves alternate, simple, oval to subovicular, 3-8 cm long, base with 2 glands, truncate or cordate, margins undulate, crenate-serrate, gray-green above, pale-green below, petiole, slender, strongly flattened.  Note: The leaves on seedlings and fast-growing stems of suckers are very different, they are heart-shaped to nearly triangular, often much larger, and petioles are less flattened.  They are dioecious - with male and female catkins on different trees.   Male catkins green and brown, 5-8 cm long, white-hairy at pollination.  Female catkins green, 2–4 cm long at pollination, maturing in early summer to bear 10–20 capsules each containing numerous tiny seeds embedded in downy fluff ("cotton").
• Sun or part shade.  
• Hardy to USDA Zone 2         Native range includes northwest Europe, north Africa, Siberia and western Asia.