All family members have smooth, light-colored bark on trunks that are under a foot in diameter and on upper branches of large trees. BARK can be snow white, light gray, or a yellowish green. BARK on large, old trees turns medium-gray and develops deep furrows. From a distance, quaking aspen is often mistaken for paper birch. The pointy BUDS are shiny brown and about a quarter-inch long and have several bud scales .
Flower buds are much larger than the leaf buds.
Rapidly growing suckers from clearcut or storm-damaged stands are sometimes thought of as brush rather than young trees. Aspen commonly grows in stands with few other tree species. Quaking aspen is one of our most important trees for game species. Terminal BUDS are larger than quaking aspen, but not so sharply pointed. Light gray twigs are a little stouter .