A Rare Form of Aspen 19 



area. The ground cover under these clumps of aspen is a de- 

 caying leaf litter varying from one inch to three inches in depth 

 with some decaying branches and a dense stand of large ferns. 



The site is very favorable as far as moisture conditions 

 are concerned. During the rainy season which commenced after 

 the middle of July and ended early in September of the abnor- 

 mally dry summer of 1910, this particular vicinity received a 

 little over eight inches of rain. The maximum temperature for 

 the entire year is about 85 F. and the minimum temperature 

 about 30 F. below zero. 



The trees have a long clear length with slender crooked 

 branches which stand out almost at right angles from the trunk. 

 This forms a small, open, dome-like crown which in thick stands 

 is very short and gives a squat appearance to the top of the tree. 

 The clear length ranges from ten to thirty feet on most of 

 the large trees. Trees two inches to three inches in diameter at 

 breast height rarely have a clear length of less than five to six 

 feet, which is probably due to some extent to grazing, although 

 this species naturally cleans itself well on favorable sites. A 

 few trees 24 to 26 inches diameter at breastheight and 50 to 60 

 feet tall were found, which were still making excellent growth. 

 Small trees that have been injured by grazing have a tendency to 

 develop abnormally large leaves the next year, many of which 

 measure nearly five inches in width. 



The leaves are almost uniformly broadly obovate, rarely 

 broadly orbicular with a pronounced obtuse base which is re- 

 gular or slightly wavy in outline, with small, incurved, glandular 

 teeth, a pubescent and a small, often slightly arcuate apex. The 

 leaves are pea green in color on the upper side but much lighter 

 on the lower side with greenish, to greenish slightly tinted with 

 red, petioles. In the fall these leaves change to a lemon color 

 with the petiole the same color or very slightly tinged with red. 

 The young branches are light gray, grayish olive or dark gray 

 in color with sometimes a tinge of green. 



The bark on trees up to eight inches in diameter is con- 

 spicuously marked with lenticels which vary from one-eighth to 

 one inch or more in length. The bark is always very smooth 

 and never breaks up except on very large trees and then only 

 near the base. The older trees are marked with black rounded 

 protuberances and scar-like marks. 



The main points of difference between the two types are in 

 the leaves which differ in shape, the pubescence of the margin, 

 color, serration, apex of tooth, color of petiole, the color the 

 leaves turn in autumn and in the lenticels on the bark of trees 

 up to eight inches in diameter. 



