Betula nigra
River Birch, Red Birch
Mature Size, Growth, Longevity
Average mature size of 40-70' tall, 40-60' wide, may reach 90' tall. Some cultivars will stay smaller. Fast growth rate, 24" or more per year, some cultivars are more moderate growing. Typically lives 100 years or less.
Native Range
Massachusetts to Florida west to Minnesota and Kansas. Restricted to stream banks and other moist places.
Flower and Fruit Details
Flowers are monoecious. Male catkins are drooping and brown, 2-3" long. Female catkins are smaller, insignificant, upright, and greenish. Both appear in spring on the same tree. Fruits are small, winged nutlets, occuring in a 1-1.5" pendulous catkin, ripens and sheds seed in spring.
Leaf and Bark Features
Yellow fall color, but then soon dropping. Bark is an orangish-cinnamon-brown bark, exfoliating into papery sheets at an early age exposing a somewhat lighter shaded inner bark, which can be white to salmon-white on young stems (1-2" in diameter).
Culture and Care
Prefers fertile, moist, acidic soil (6.5 or lower). Well-adapted, tolerates heavy clay soils and poor drainage, tolerates drier soils but will drop leaves in drought. Spring pruning can cause sap "bleeding," which is messy but not harmful. Zones 4-9. Probably the most trouble-free birch, resistant to bronze birch borer, but can get leaf spot causing premature defoliation of older interior leaves, chlorosis will develop in high pH situations, and aphids common on soft succulent growth.
Strengths, Weaknesses, Other Facts
Handsome exfoliating bark character provides winter interest.
Suggested Uses
Use as specimen tree for estates, parks, golf courses, and other large areas. Fox Valley useful as a shrub mass along water courses.
Taxa and Plants of this Species at BCA
The following taxa are (or were) represented in the collections at Boone County Arboretum. Additional taxa may be available in the trade that are not included here.
Betula nigra 'BNMTF' // Dura Heat® River Birch
Tree. This cultivar was discovered and originally introduced in late 1970s.
BT001763Betula nigra 'Little King' // Fox Valley ('Little King') River Birch
Tree. Dense, compact, oval-rounded growth habit, supposedly only 10' tall and 12' wide, but our specimens are much bigger and still growing. Branches to ground. Extremely resistant to bronze birch borer, good resistance to leaf spot diseases. Discovered 1970s.
BT002115 - BT003625 - BT003635Betula nigra 'Shiloh Splash' // Shiloh Splash® Variegated Dwarf River Birch
Tree. Varigated cultivar found as a chance seedling by tobacco farmers John and Daniel Allen at Shiloh Nursery in Harmony, NC. However, the varigation is not stable and is prone to reversion. Unknown final mature size.
BT001557 - BT001558 - BT001559