ASPEN TREE, called also the trembling-leaved poplar (Populus tremula), is a native of Britain, and is found generally in moist places, sometimes at a considerable elevation, 1600 feet or more, in Scotland. It flowers in Britain in March and April. The name “trembling” is applied to it on account of the constant movement of the leaves even with a gentle breeze. This mobility depends on the leaves being suspended by leaf-stalks flattened laterally, and when subjected to a slight wind, by their friction on each other they give rise to a rustling sound. It is supposed that the mulberry trees (Becaim) mentioned in 1st Chronicles xiv. 14, 15, were really aspen trees. The wood of the tree is white, and is made use of by turners. In France sabots are made of it; and the charcoal made from the wood is used in the manufacture of gunpowder. The leaves are in some countries of Europe employed as food for cattle, sheep, and goats.

ASPENDUS (or, as the name appears on the more ancient coins, Estfendys), a city of Pamphylia, in Asia Minor, situated on an isolated hill near the river Eurymedon (Capri-su) at the extremity of the plain of Perga. It was founded by a colony from Argos, five centuries before the Christian era, and attained to great prosperity, as is attested, not only by the statements of Greek and Roman writers, but also by the noble ruins that still occupy the site. Of these the most remarkable is the theatre, which is regarded as more perfect than any other in Asia Minor, requiring but little restoration to render it fit once more for its ancient use. In the first precinct there are twenty-one rows of seats, and in the second eighteen, nearly all of them entire. The date of the building is assigned by an inscription to the time of Antoninus and Lucius Verus. An aqueduct of magnificent proportions, built, like the theatre, of the silicious conglomerate of the neighbourhood, still stretches across the plain; and the ruins of an agora and other erections are found on the hill. That the city was rich in valuable statues is mentioned by Cicero, who rhetorically accuses Verus of having plundered it of them all. It only appears occasionally in ancient history, as when its inhabitants surprised and assassinated Thrasybulus, and again when they surrendered to Alexander; but the populousness of the place is proved by the fact that it was able to furnish 4000 hoplites.