Aspen

Tags: Trees Description: Aspen leaves are dark green and round with toothed edges. The underside is pale and hairy. The veins that carry water and nutrients out to the whole leaf are very clear on aspen. The leaf stalk is flattened. This means that even the slightest movement in the air sets them rustling or trembling. Hence the expression ‘trembling like an aspen leaf’. This is rather clever of the tree, because when the leaves move, the sun reaches all of them. People used to say that the aspen trembled because it was afraid of the match factory. Almost all matches are made of aspen, because it burns so steadily. The aspen is one of the most important trees in Norway’s https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skog when it comes to https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biologisk_mangfold. It has what we call https://no.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rikbark&action=edit&redlink=1, meaning that the bark has a high https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH. This is why it is a growing place for rare lichen species. A great many mosses grow there too, and a multitude of insects, mites and other small creatures like to live there. The bark is the most nutritious and most easily digestible among the tree species. This is why aspen is the favourite food of the https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bever.

Use: If we are in doubt about the points of the compass, we can use the aspen trunk to help. It is often covered with brass lichen on the south side. Habitat type: Forest Edible: No Written by: Lærke Stewart

, via Wikimedia Commons](Osp/Untitled.png)

Aspen leaves. Photo: Hugo.arg, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons

Next steps

• Pine — another tree species
• Oak — another tree species
• Spruce — another tree species
• Forest — the biotope
• Plants — the hub

Learn more

• Artsdatabanken — species, status, Red List
• SNL — Norwegian botany — encyclopaedic
• Sopp- og Nyttevekstforbundet — courses and checking
• Botanisk forening — the Norwegian botany community