The quaking aspen is best known for its nervous aspen leaves. There is actually a lot of character potential in their fruits. The fact that they didn't become a figure of speech may be due to their less single status.
What does the fruit of the quaking aspen look like and when does it appear?
The fruit of the quaking aspen is a greenish to brownish capsule fruit that contains numerous, wind-dispersed seeds with fluffy heads. Fertilization occurs by wind pollination and the fruits develop from the end of May to June.
First flowers, then leaves, then fruits
The order of what the quaking aspen produces over the course of the year is the same as that of its fellow species. Like all Populus species, the flowers are the first to appear on the scene. In subtropical latitudes they can appear as early as February, but here they appear from March or April. They then have the tree to themselves throughout the flowering period.
Because the foliage only wakes up after the catkins have bloomed. It can develop undisturbed for a while and stretch out its fresh greenery before the fruits appear at the end of May.
The flowering, foliage and fruiting times at a glance:
- Flowers in this country from March/April
- Leaves unfold in April
- Fruits from the end of May
Fertilization
Aspen trees, like all Populus species, are anemophilous, meaning they have adapted to wind pollination. The male catkin flowers commission the wind to send their pollen on the way to female flowers.
When the female flowers are fertilized, they also use the wind to reproduce, i.e. to spread the seeds. This means that quaking aspens are not only anemophilic, but also anemochorous.
The fruit cluster, which develops from the end of May, is a capsule fruit of greenish to brownish color with two to four lobes. A single female catkin flower has many of these capsules. To release the seeds, they open when the fruit ripens. During this time, the kittens have a white, woolly appearance due to their splayed surface.
Fluffy flying seeds from June
In order to be easily carried away by the wind, the seeds have a fluffy tuft of whitish, fine hairs at the top. This acts as a sail, so to speak, and ensures a generous distribution radius for the quaking aspen. When seeds land in rivers, they can be carried much further than by wind alone. As a result, quaking aspen trees have an extremely high reproductive range.
Because the seeds of quaking aspen trees are so numerous, you often experience a real rush of fluffy flakes in June. When you walk through a quaking aspen grove you come home feeling like it's been covered in snow.
