State Tree Of Utah
Quaking Aspen Is The Official State Tree Of Utah. The Quaking Aspen was chosen by the Utah State Legislature in 2014 to be the Utah State Tree. The quaking aspen replaced the Colorado blue spruce, which had held the honor of state tree since 1933. This change began with fourth-grade students at Monroe Elementary in Sevier County. The students felt that the blue spruce did not represent Utah as a whole. Quaking Aspen’s mainly used in Utah for fence poles and buildings and as firewood.
Quaking Aspen is one of North America’s most beautiful trees with its white peeling trunks, smooth spade-shaped leaves that tremble in the wind and turn brilliant yellow in the fall. This popular poplar stands no chance of extinction for its fierce self-propagation, a quality that makes the aspen resilient but difficult to manage in a controlled landscape difficult but not impossible. Naturally, State Tree Of Utah aspens grows on moist uplands, dry mountainsides, high plateaus, mesas, avalanche chutes, talus, parklands, gentle slopes near valley bottoms, alluvial terraces and along watercourses, according to Utah State University Extension’s webpage on the quaking aspen. It is most common at elevations between 6,000 and 10,000 feet.
Fun Facts About The Quaking Aspen:
- The Quaking Aspen long, flat stems make the leaves shake in the slightest of breezes, which is why it is called quaking aspen.
- The scientific name for Utah State Tree Quaking Aspen is Populus tremuloides, which is why many people, including many Canadians, call it trembling aspen. Others still call it scientific name trembling aspen, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- Quaking Aspen is the most widely distributed tree in North America, filling in all of the Canadian provinces and all but 13 of the United States (the Southeast doesn’t get them), according to the USDA.
- Utah is home to the largest living organism on Earth, Pando, a huge grove of aspen clones that spans 106 acres in Central Utah, near Fish Lake.
