The Silver Birch is a medium-sized deciduous tree that owes its common name to the tree's white peeling bark. The twigs are slender and often pendulous, and the leaves are roughly triangular with doubly serrate margins, turning yellow in the autumn before they fall. The flowers are catkins, and the light-winged seed gets widely scattered by the wind. The silver birch is a hardy tree, a pioneer species, and one of the first trees to appear on bare or fire-swept land.
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Description
Betula pendula, the common name Silver Birch is a species of tree in the Betulaceae family. It is native to Europe and parts of Asia. It typically reaches a height of 15- 25m, with a slender trunk usually under 40 cm in diameter.
Planting Position
Suitable for most locations and soil types, although it prefers light soils, wasteland or forest clearings.
Size
Growth Rate: Medium
Final Height: 15-25 m
Final Spread: Approximately 8m
Foliage and Leaves
The bark on the trunk and branches is golden-brown but later turns white as papery tissue develops on the surface, peeling off in flakes. The bark remains smooth until the tree gets quite large, but in older trees, the bark thickens and becomes irregular, dark and rugged. Young branches have whitish resin warts, and the twigs are slender, hairless and often pendulous. The buds are small and sticky, and development is sympodial; that is to say, the terminal bud dies away, and growth continues from a lateral bud. Some shoots are long and bear the male catkins at the tip in the autumn, while others are short and bear the female catkins that develop soon after the leaves unfurl in the spring. The leaves have short slender stalks and are 3-7cm long and triangular with broad, entire, wedge-shaped bases, slender pointed tips and coarsely double-toothed serrated margins. They are sticky with resin at first, but this dries as they age, leaving small white scales. The foliage is a pale to medium green and returns yellow early in the autumn before leaves fall. The male catkins expand and release pollen, and the females mature in mid-summer, and then wind pollination takes place in autumn. The small 1-mm winged seeds ripen in late summer on pendulous, cylindrical catkins 2-4 cm long and 7mm broad. The seeds are numerous, and when ripe, the whole catkin disintegrates, and the seeds are spread by the wind.
Plant Interest
The Silver Birch provides food and habitat for more than 300 insects, ranging from aphids which then attract ladybirds to caterpillars. They are also known for specific fungi, including birch brittlegrill, chanterelle and razor strop to name a few. Woodpeckers often nest in holes in the trunk, and the seeds attract siskins, greenfinches and redpolls.
Landscape Use
Silver Birch works well in cleared forest areas and waste land. It can also used as an attractive specimen tree in a garden.
Uses timber/logs/windbreak/etc
Historically Silver Birch was used for making bobbins, spools and reels for the Lancashire cotton industry. Today it is used for the making of furniture and toys.
