Skip to content

Friday, Oct. 11, 2024

Do aspen trees share roots?


yes

A group of aspen trees, known as an aspen stand, are often connected to a single root system.

The trees spread underground with new trunks growing up from the same root system. Aspen groves are referred to as clones since the trees share many of the same genetics.

The root systems of aspens can be hundreds or even thousands of years old even though their trunks may only last 100 years. According to the U.S. Forest Service, one root system in Utah was found to be 80,000 years old.

Shared roots make aspens resilient. Trunks burned down or felled by disease quickly grow back. The trees are fast growers, and softer than many other hardwoods. They are a favorite of woodpeckers and a staple for elk, moose, deer and beaver. 

Quaking aspens, the most common species, are found in the Midwest, Canada, Alaska and many Western states.

See a full discussion of this at The Colorado Sun

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

See all fact briefs

The Colorado Sun is a journalist-founded, award-winning and nonprofit news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself. In this way, we believe we can contribute to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado. We are committed to fact-based, in-depth and nonpartisan journalism. We cover everything from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and education. Our goal is to produce the best possible journalism. We do that with the help of you, our readers, and community backers. We launched on Sept. 10, 2018.

Learn More

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.