Aspens south of Mammoth, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Aspens typically grow in large clonal colonies derived from a single seedling, and spreading by means of root suckers; new stems in the colony may appear at up to 98-130 ft from the parent tree. Each individual tree can live for 40-150 years above ground, but the root system of the colony is much longer lived. In some cases, it may be for thousands of years, sending up new trunks as the older trunks die off above ground. A colony in...
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Aspens south of Mammoth, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Aspens typically grow in large clonal colonies derived from a single seedling, and spreading by means of root suckers; new stems in the colony may appear at up to 98-130 ft from the parent tree. Each individual tree can live for 40-150 years above ground, but the root system of the colony is much longer lived. In some cases, it may be for thousands of years, sending up new trunks as the older trunks die off above ground. A colony in Utah is thought to be 80,000 years old.
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