Like Quaking Aspen, Big-tooth Aspen has flat petioles, which allow the leaves to flutter, or quake, at the slightest breeze.
 
     Big-tooth's leaves are distinguishable by the large grooves, or teeth, along the sides of the leaves.  They, too, get a lovely yellow color in fall, often more of a darker yellow and sometimes oranges and reds.
 
     Its bark is darker, kind of a brownish green, where as the bark on Quaking Aspen is a smooth lighter gray.
 
     Big-tooth aspen grows well in full sun and is an important food source for birds, mammals and butterflies, and it is a larval host for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.