General: Dioecious tree up to 25 m tall; colonial; branches greenish-white; twigs greenish-white, smooth.
Leaves: Alternate, deciduous, simple, broadly egg-shaped, kidney-shaped or circular, 2.5-9 cm long, 2.5-8 cm wide, the bases rounded to slightly heart-shaped, smooth, finely toothed and fringed with long white hairs, upper side green, lower side paler; leaf stalks 2-7.5 cm long; buds smooth.
Flowers: Borne in catkins; male catkins 2-3 cm long, soon deciduous, with 6-14 stamens; female catkins 4-10 cm long.
Fruits: Capsules, lanceolate to narrowly egg-shaped, carpels 2, smooth, short-stalked.
Moist to dry ravines, depressions, meadows, ridges, upland forests and occasionally on floodplains in the lowland and montane zones; common throughout BC, except infrequent on SW coast, absent on Queen Charlotte Islands; N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to NY, NC, IN, AR, TX, NM, AZ, CA and MX.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
A shade-intolerant, submontane to alpine, transcontinental North American, deciduous broad-leaved tree (rare in the Pacific region). Occurs in continental boreal and cool temperate climates on nitrogen-rich soils (Moder and Mull humus forms). Its occurrence increases with increasing continentality and latitude; sporadic in the coast-interior ecotone. Forms pure stands on base-rich, water-shedding and water-receiving sites following disturbance. A nurse species, it improves humus form quality through nutrient-rich litterfall. Regenerates abundantly from root suckers which quickly form a dense shrub layer and suppress the growth of shade-intolerant conifers. Characteristic of young-seral, continental forests.
BC Ministry of Environment:BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer,
the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.
Synonyms and Alternate Names
Populus polygonifolia Bernard Populus polygonifolia Bernard Populus aurea Tidestr. Populus cercidiphylla Britt. Populus tremula subsp. tremuloides (Michx.) A.& D. L÷ve Populus tremuloides var. aurea (Tidestr.) Daniels Populus tremuloides var. cercidiphylla (Britt.) Sudworth Populus tremuloides var. intermedia Victorin Populus tremuloides var. magnifica Victorin Populus tremuloides var. rhomboidea Victorin Populus tremuloides var. tremuloides Populus tremuloides var. vancouveriana (Trel.) Sarg. Populus vancouveriana Trel.
