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Photographer: Derek Anderson
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Family Betulaceae
Betula pumila L.
bog birch, dwarf birch, swamp birch
Betula: ancient Latin name
pumila: dwarf
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| Status: | Native |
| Plant: | perennial, erect, coarse, irregular shrub 4'-13' tall; smooth bark dark reddish brown; pale, inconspicuous lenticels; often forming large colonies; twigs not tasting or smelling like wintergreen |
| Flower: | male catkin 1/3"-3/4" long on 1/4"-1/3" stalks; blooms in late spring |
| Fruit: | cylindrical, erect fruit clusters; samara wings slightly narrower than the body, widest near the middle |
| Leaf: | stiff, elliptic to obovate to widely ovate; broadly-round above and at the base; edges coarsely toothed |
| Habitat: | moist to wet; bogs, calcareous fens, wooded swamps, muskegs, lakeshores |
| Notes: | often hybirdizes |
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