Birch European

Birch European — Betula pendula, (Variously Silver Birch, European Weeping Birch, European White Birch, or Weeping Birch) is a widespread European birch, though in southern Europe it is only found at higher altitudes. Its range extends into southwest Asia in the mountains of northern Turkey and the Caucasus. It is also found growing wild throughout much of Canada. The closely related Betula platyphylla in northern Asia and Sichuan Birch (B. szechuanica) of central Asia are also treated as varieties of Silver Birch by some botanists, as B. pendula var. platyphylla and B. pendula var. szechuanica respectively.

Betula pendula is a medium deciduous tree, typically reaching 15-25 m tall, exceptionally up to 30 m, with a slender crown of arched branches with drooping branchlets. The bark is white, often with black diamond-shaped marks or larger patches at the base. The shoots are rough with small warts, and hairless, and the leaves 3-6 cm long, triangular with a broad base and pointed tip, and coarsely serrated margins. The flowers are wind-pollinated catkins, produced before the leaves in early spring, the small (1-2 mm) winged seeds ripening in late summer on 3-5 cm long catkins.

It is distinguished from the related Downy Birch (B. pubescens, the other common European birch) in having hairless, warty shoots (hairy, without warts in Downy Birch), and whiter bark often with scattered black fissures (greyer, less fissured, in Downy Birch). It is also distinguished cytologically, Silver Birch being diploid (with two sets of chromosomes), whereas Downy Birch is tetraploid (four sets of chromosomes). The two have subtle differences in habitat requirements, with Silver Birch found mainly on dry, sandy soils, and Downy Birch more common on wet, poorly drained sites such as clay soils and peat bogs. Silver birch also demands slightly more summer warmth than does Downy birch, which is significant in the cooler parts of Europe. Many North American texts treat the two species as conspecific (and cause confusion by combining the Downy Birch’s alternative vernacular name ‘White Birch’, with the scientific name B. pendula of the other species), but they are regarded as distinct species throughout Europe.

It is often planted as a garden and ornamental tree, grown for its white bark and gracefully drooping shoots even in warmer-than-optimum places such as Los Angeles, California and Sydney, Australia. In Scandinavia and other regions of northern Europe, it is grown for forestry. It is sometimes used as a pioneer and nurse tree elsewhere.

Successful birch cultivation requires a climate cool enough for at least the occasional winter snowfall. Shallow rooted they require water during dry periods, growing best in full sun or dappled shade. They require deep, moist, fertile soil.