Winter twig

The leaves are alternate, round, and 2.5-6 cm long. They are hairless, dark green on the upper surface and paler on the underside with a coarsely blunt-toothed margin. They have strongly flattened stalks, as long as, or longer than the leaves, which catch even the slightest breeze, causing a trembling movement and a rustling sound.

ID check

Aspen is a deciduous tree up to 20m in height. Sometimes it has a single silvery-barked trunk strongly marked with black diamonds, but in exposed places or on poor soils, it is often also a shrub with many suckers. It grows in open woodland, generally on moist soils with little lime content.

The leaves on the suckers are larger, maybe 5-12 cm long. They are sharply pointed and slightly hairy.

The male and female catkins are 5-8 cm long and appear on separate trees (dioecious) in February and March, before the leaves.

The brown male catkins have reddish-purple anthers. The green female catkins have pinkish or purplish stigmas, divided into two or more lobes.

Facts

• The leaves are food for the caterpillars of the green hairstreak butterfly.

• The wood can be used to make matches.

• When beavers lived on Scottish rivers, aspen was one of their main food sources.