Betula lenta
Sweet Birch, Cherry Birch, Black Birch
Mature Size, Growth, Longevity
Average mature size of 40-55' tall and 35-45' wide, possibly to 80' tall in wild. Medium growth rate, 20' over a 20 year period.
Native Range
Kentucky Native — Maine to Alabama, west to Ohio. Introduced 1759.
Flower and Fruit Details
Flowers appear in April before the leaves. Pendulous male catkins formed during summer and fall of the year prior to flowering and visible through winter, expand to 3-4" long. Upright female flowers, 0.5-1" long, enclosed in the bud and borne upright. Fruits are small, winged nutlets, occurring in strobiles 0.75-1.33" long, 0.6" wide.
Leaf and Bark Features
Golden yellow fall color, perhaps the best fall color of the birches commonly found in landscapes. Bark is glistening reddish-brown to almost black, with prominent horizontal lenticels on young trees. Mature trees become brownish-black, breaking up into large, thin, irregular, scaly plates.
Culture and Care
Prefers rich, moist, slightly acid, well-drained soils. However it can be found on rocky, drier sites, and in the heavy clay soils of the Midwest U.S. Resistant to bronze birch borer, but susceptible to many other pathogens (leaf spots, leaf blisters, leaf rust, canker, dieback, wood-decay, and mildew) and insects (aphids, witch-hazel leaf gall aphid, birch skeletonizer, leaf miner, and seed mite gall).
Strengths, Weaknesses, Other Facts
Wintergreen scent and sweet flavor to bruised stems and leaves.
Suggested Uses
Use in naturalized areas.