Water Birch
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Read about Water Birch in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Betula nigra, Linn. (B. rubra. Michx.). Red or River Birch. Tree 50-90 ft.: bark reddish brown, or silvery gray on younger branches, separating into numerous thin, papery flakes: branchlets pubescent: petioles scarcely ½in. long: Lvs. rhombic-ovate, acute, doubly serrate, pubescent when young, at length only on the veins beneath, pale or glaucescent beneath, 2-3½ in. long: cones 1-1 ⅔ in. long, cylindrical, ripening in May or June; scales pubes cent, with erect, linear-oblong, nearly equal lobes. From Mass, south to Fla. and west to Kan. and Minn. S.S. 9:452. L.B.C. 13:1248. G. F. 2:591. Gn. 55, p. 161 (habit). W. B. 63. H.T. 122, 123.— A moisture-loving, graceful tree, with slender, very numerous branches, and remarkable for its torn and ragged bark.
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 River birch with male catkins, Johnsonville, South Carolina | ||||||||||||||||
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Water Birch, Red Birch or, River Birch (Betula nigra) is a common small birch native in flood plains or swamps in the eastern United States from New Hampshire west to southern Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and east Texas.
It is a small deciduous tree growing to about 25 m tall at most. The bark is very variable, usually dark gray-brown to pinkish-brown and thickly scaly, but in some individuals, smooth and creamy pinkish-white, exfoliating in curly papery sheets. The leaves are alternate, ovate, 5-12 cm long and 4-9 cm broad, with a serrated margin. The flowers are wind-pollinated catkins 3-6 cm long, the male catkins pendulous, the female catkins erect. The fruit is unusual among birches in maturing in late spring; it is composed of numerous tiny winged seeds packed between the catkin bracts.
Cultivation and uses
While its native habitat is wet ground, it will grow on higher land, and its bark is quite distinctive, making it a favored ornamental tree for landscape use. A number of cultivars with much whiter bark than the normal wild type have been selected for garden planting, including 'Heritage' and 'Dura Heat'; these are notable as the only white-barked birches resistant to the bronze birch borer Agrilus anxius in warm areas of the southeastern United States of America.
Native Americans used the boiled sap as a sweetener similar to maple syrup, and the inner bark as a survival food. It is usually too contorted and knotty to be of value as a timber tree.
External links
- Betula nigra images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
- Flora of North America: Betula nigra
- Flora of N.Amer-RangeMap: Betula nigra
