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Photographer: Paul Drobot
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Family Betulaceae
Betula papyrifera Marshall
canoe birch, paper birch, white birch
Betula: ancient Latin name
papyrifera: paper like from papyrus
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| Status: | Native |
| Plant: | perennial tree usually less than 65' tall, often slightly leaning, usually 1 but sometimes 2 or more trunks, crowns narrowly rounded; young bark dark reddish brown, smooth, turning creamy to chalky white with age and peeling in large, thin sheets; pale, horizontal lenticels getting dark with age; no wintergreen odor or taste |
| Flower: | catkin 1"-2" long; blooms in late spring |
| Fruit: | cylindrical, hanging fruit clusters; samara wings as wide or wider than the body |
| Leaf: | ovate with a sharp point, single or twice cut to toothed, mostly with a rounded base, very sparsely hairy below |
| Habitat: | moist to dry; disturbed sites, upland woods, rocky slopes; often only on N-facing hillsides |
| Notes: | very similar to B cordifolia (Mountain white birch) except usually slightly leaning and with few lower branches |
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