Sweet Birch
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| Betula lenta L. | ||||||||||||||||
Sweet Birch (Betula lenta), also known as Black Birch, Cherry Birch, Mahogany Birch, River Birch, or Spice Birch is a species of birch native to eastern North America, from southern Maine west to southernmost Ontario and southern Michigan, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia.
It is a medium-sized deciduous tree reaching 20 m tall with a trunk up to 60 cm diameter. The bark is (unlike most birches) rough, dark blackish-brown, cracking into irregular scaly plates. The twigs, when scraped, have a strong scent of oil of wintergreen. The leaves are alternate, ovate, 5-10 cm long and 4-8 cm broad, with a finely serrated margin. The flowers are wind-pollinated catkins 3-6 cm long, the male catkins pendulous, the female catkins erect. The fruit, maturing in fall, is composed of numerous tiny winged seeds packed between the catkin bracts.
Sweet Birch was used commercially in the past for production of oil of wintergreen before modern industrial synthesis; the tree's name reflects this scent of the shoots.
The sap flows about a month later than maple sap, and much faster. The trees can be tapped in a similar fashion, but must be gathered about three times more often. Birch sap can be boiled the same as maple sap, but its syrup is stronger (like molasses).
Gallery
Birch bark
19th century illustration
