Betula populifolia
Common name:
Gray Birch
Fire Birch
Pronunciation:
BET-u-la pop-u-li-FO-li-a
Family:
Betulaceae
Genus:
Type:
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
No
- Deciduous tree, small to medium, to about 40 ft (12 m) tall, open, conical crown; usually with several trunks which are often curved and leaning. Bark thin, smooth, reddish-brown when young, becoming chalky white, rough and warty, peeling only with difficulty into rectangular patches. Leaves alternate, simple, triangular, 4-7 cm long, base broadly wedge-shaped (cuneate) or truncated, very elongated apex, margin doubly serrate, 6-9 vein pairs each ending in a large tooth, glossy green, yellow in fall. Fruit catkins 1.5-2 cm long.
- Sun, will grow on poor soil, both wet and dry. Short lived, probably less than 20 years in cultivation. Somewhat resistant to bronze birch borer.
- Hardy to USDA Zone 3 Native to northeastern North America, its natural range is from Nova Scotia and Ontario south to Delaware. A successional tree on burned, cleared, or abandoned land, hence one of its common name, Fire Birch.
- A selection that is resistant to the bronze birch borer is 'Whitespire Senior'.
- populifolia: popular-leaved.
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Betula populifolia
