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Alithographica — Science Fact Friday: Aspen or Birch?
#aspen #biology #birch #guide #identification #leaves #nature #paper #quaking #science #scientificillustration #tree #trees
Published: 2017-11-11 05:43:28 +0000 UTC; Views: 8117; Favourites: 72; Downloads: 17
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Unless you can see the telltale paper-peeling bark, it can be easy to confuse quaking aspen and paper birch. Both are white with dark scars and have significant distribution overlap.Related content
Comments: 15
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If you can hear the leaves whooshing loudly in the wind, it's easy to tell it's aspen. Their leaves make rather peculiar sound compared to other trees.
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Oooo very cool. I haven't noticed that!
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I've wondered if they're related - there are certainly similarities as you point out.
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Only distantly! Seems to be something that evolved independently.
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Interesting - convergent evolution, if I recall.
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Was just asking myself if I was seeing an aspens or some other type of tree when I was in Yosemite this month. There were clusters of them with the exact same extent of fall color, now I now why! Thanks.
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Tah-dah! Clones.
That's cool, I'm seen plenty of aspens in person but am not sure I've seen them during a change like that. c:
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Not sure I understand - what do you mean by bark type?
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Like rough or smooth, something like that.
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Ah! Not really. Aside from the lenticels and eyes, the bark is fairly smooth. Aspen bark becomes rougher as the tree ages but various scars can also make the birch bark feel rough over time so...it can be hard to tell.
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I mean bark types in general because if we can categorize leaf shapes and branch arrangements, why not bark texture?
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Ah gotcha! You know, I'm not actually certain about that. This is a pretty good article that has a bark index at the bottom so it appears that you /can/ do some identification by bark. My botanical expertise leans more towards flowers and other short plants so I'm not sure whether this is a widespread index or something he has developed.
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