Silver birch (Betula pendula)

WróćBack
  • Drzewa Trees
  • Liściaste Deciduous
  • Liście pojedyńcze Single leaves
  • Ustawione na pędzie skrętolegle Alternating on the stem

Birch family (Betulaceae)

 

Tree reaching heights of 25-30 m and girths of 80 (100) cm. Leaves up to 100 years. Bark white from presence of betulinol, trunk-base black and fissured. Young branches Młode gałązki pokryte brodawkami. Liście, trójkątne lub rombowe, podwójnie piłkowane, nagie. Jednopienna, wiatropylna. Male infloresences in hanging catkins, female more erect and shorter. Infructescences present Jul.-Aug., break down into small, winged nutlets and 3-lobed catkin-scales. Flowers in April, as leaves develop.

Light-loving pioneer coloniser of open areas, and an admixture species in all pine and mixed/pine forests (except marshy); also present in oak woodland and oak-lime-hornbeam forest. Yields a drinkable sap in early spring. Medicinal plant.

 

Descriptions devised by the team at the Independent Department of Forest Botany, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, i.e. L. Witkowska-Żuk, K. Marciszewska, W. Ciurzycki, A. Obidziński and P. Zaniewski