European White Birch, Asian White Birch
 

Mature Size, Growth, Longevity

Average mature size 40-50' tall, 20-35' wide, may reach 100' or more in optimal conditions. Graceful pendulous branches, overall pyramidal outline in youth, becoming oval with time. Medium to fast growth rate, reaching 30-40' in a 20-year period.

Native Range

Native to Europe (including Britain) and northern Asia. Species has long been cultivated.

Flower and Fruit Details

Male flowers 1.5-3.5" long, usually in 2s, sometimes singly or in 3s. Fruits are small nutlets from female flowers, produced in 0.75-1.25" long by 0.33" wide, cylindrical catkins, and are shed in fall.

Leaf and Bark Features

Simple leaves, alternately arranged, broadly ovate, sometimes diamond-shaped. 1-3" long 0.75-1.5" wide. Glossy dark green, dotted with glands on both surfaces, on a 0.5-0.75" long petiole. Fall color is usually a poor yellow or yellow-green. Can occasionally be good in more northerly climates. Young stems glabrous brown, smoother than paper or gray birch. Branches whitish with little exfoliation. With age, the trunk becomes black with a relatively small amount of white.

Culture and Care

Does best in moist, well-drained, sandy or loamy soil but tolerates wet or dry soils. More pH tolerant than B. nigra. Transplants readily in spring. Should be pruned in summer or fall; excessive "bleeding" can occur if pruned in late winter or early spring - not overly harmful, but creates an unattractive messy appearance. Bronze birch borer is a serious pest to this birch species. Treatment is possible, but by the time an infestation is noticed, it is usually too advanced to successfully save the tree. This birch species is not recommended.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Other Facts

Not recommended due to bronze birch borer.

Suggested Uses

Once extensively used for home landscapes, lawns, parks and cemeteries. The species has fallen out of favor due to severe attacks by the native bronze birch borer, but the species is still being sold.

Taxa and Plants of this Species at BCA