Tree · Salicaceae
Quaking aspen
Populus tremuloides
Quaking aspen is recorded as native to 37 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 852 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Quaking aspen at a glance
- Native in
- 852 counties, across 37 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 1a PLANTS minimum temperature −70°F
- Mature height
- 65 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 1a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −70°F; zone 1a winters bottom out at −60°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Quaking aspen is recorded as native to 37 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 852 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 852 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 14 counties
- Arizona 11 counties
- California 24 counties
- Colorado 35 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Idaho 23 counties
- Illinois 39 counties
- Indiana 41 counties
- Iowa 8 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Maryland 3 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 77 counties
- Minnesota 69 counties
- Missouri 6 counties
- Montana 33 counties
- Nebraska 6 counties
- Nevada 12 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 17 counties
- New Mexico 19 counties
- New York 38 counties
- North Carolina 1 county
- North Dakota 35 counties
- Ohio 70 counties
- Oregon 27 counties
- Pennsylvania 57 counties
- Rhode Island 5 counties
- South Dakota 11 counties
- Texas 3 counties
- Utah 29 counties
- Vermont 13 counties
- Virginia 12 counties
- Washington 27 counties
- West Virginia 11 counties
- Wisconsin 16 counties
- Wyoming 20 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 65 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Rounded
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 7 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.3 to 9
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 32 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −70°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 1a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 70
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Blue
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- White
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Salicaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- POTR5
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Populus tremuloides (PLANTS symbol POTR5).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources