Aspen

Quaking aspen is a deciduous tree of the cooler parts of North America and the most widespread tree on that continent, found from Canada down to the mountains of central Mexico. It grows quickly, with a tall trunk, smooth pale bark marked by black scars, and nearly round leaves on long, flattened stalks, so that the lightest air sets them shivering: the habit behind its names quaking and trembling aspen. In autumn the foliage turns gold or yellow. A stand often rises from one shared root system, every trunk a clone of the rest, and one such colony, Pando, is thought to be the oldest and heaviest organism alive. Its bitter bark was once taken against fevers in place of quinine and Peruvian bark. Aspen lore from Europe and Ireland links the tree with death and with healing: an Irish glossary of about 900 CE describes an aspen rod for measuring a fresh grave, Russians laid one over the grave of a suspected witch, and in northern England a lock of hair was pinned to an aspen as a cure. Its bark, like willow's, holds salicin. In magic it guards against theft, worked into spells or planted in a garden or field, and a leaf held under the tongue is said to make the speaker eloquent. A pressed leaf is kept to draw prosperity, a dried leaf is crumbled and burned to send a hex back, and a twig on the altar helps in reaching the ancestors.