Birch
- Physical description. A birch has smooth, resinous, varicoloured or white bark, marked by horizontal pores (lenticels), which usually peels horizontally in thin sheets, especially on young trees.
- Major species. Birch species often have two or more common names, and a single common name may be applied to a number of different species.
- Uses. Birches were among the first trees to become established after the glaciers receded. ...
How do you identify a birch tree?
Part 5 Part 5 of 6: River Birch (or Red Birch) Download Article
- Consider the tree's location. River Birch is the only Birch tree species common in the southern US, although they can be planted anywhere in the US.
- Take a look at the size. River Birch grows from 50 to 80 feet tall when they reach full maturity, have short branches, and thin twigs.
- Check the bark and trunk. ...
- Inspect the leaves. ...
- Notice any flowers. ...
What are the characteristics of a birch tree?
- Native Area: Western North America, mountainous regions
- USDA Growing Zones: 3 to 7
- Height: Shrubby form can grow 25 feet tall; as a tree, to 40 feet
- Sun Exposure: Full sun to part shade
Is Birch a good wood?
The answer is generally yes with some caveats. Birch can be used in furniture with some success, though it can be hard to find, and it should not be exposed to the elements. The Woodbox says birch wood is a great craft wood that is frequently used in woodworking projects and is often made into things like toothpicks, toy parts and paper.
How to identify a birch tree?
Quick Facts about Birch Trees
- Family:
- Genus:
- Description: Medium-sized deciduous tree with white, silver, yellow, gray, or black bark. ...
- Average Height:
- Average Lifespan:
- Geographical Distribution: Widely distributed throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
- Native Habitat: Moist woodlands and near bodies of water in cool, temperate climates. ...
- Number of Species:
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What are characteristics of birch?
Birch wood is medium-weight and has good strength properties: it is elastic and tough but not particularly hard. Shrinkage varies from slight to strong. Except for the bark, birch wood is not durable. Birch wood is light and easy to work.
How would you describe a silver birch tree?
Silver birch is a striking, medium-sized deciduous tree. When mature they can reach 30m in height, forming a light canopy with elegant, drooping branches. The white bark sheds layers like tissue paper and becomes black and rugged at the base. As the trees mature, the bark develops dark, diamond-shaped fissures.
What is special about the birch tree?
Birch tree produces fruit called "samara" which can release around 1 million seeds each year. Seeds and bark of the birch are source of food for forest animals such as rabbits, deer and birds. Wood of birch tree is highly flammable. It can catch a fire even when it is wet.
How do you identify a birch tree?
You can recognize birch trees by their peeling bark that can be white, gray, or yellow. You will also notice horizontal diamond-shaped raised marks on the light-colored bark. Look at the leaves—birch leaves are typically triangular with jagged-looking edges.
What does birch smell like?
The smell of birch firewood is a subtle, sweet smell that will fill your room or campsite. Some individuals claim that it is nature's incense, giving off such a satisfying aroma that they will go out of there way to specifically find this type of wood.
Why do birch trees have eyes?
Captured in ancient lore, this tree is said to have “eyes” that served as guides along arduous mountain journeys so that any traveler would be seen safely home.
What does a birch tree mean in a dream?
The birch tree can represent several things, but in your case, you are focused on the height and how straight it is, so for you it symbolizes honesty and virtues that you represent. You lean on the tree in your dream, meaning this is you and your way of thinking. It is honorable.
What is the legend of the birch tree?
Native American Birch Tree Mythology Ojibwe folklore has it that birch trees are immune to lightning strikes, and that therefore these are good trees to take shelter under during a thunderstorm. Birch trees are also used as a clan symbol in some Native American cultures.
What is a birch color?
Characteristics of Birch Wood. Color. Pale white to reddish-brown or yellow.
What birch trees look like?
Most everyone has some recognition of the birch tree, a tree with light-colored white, yellow, or grayish bark that often separates into thin papery plates and is characteristically marked with long horizontal dark raised lines (also known as lenticils).
Why do birch trees have white bark?
As a pioneer species, birch are sometimes the only trees growing in an open area, and thus can be bombarded by sunlight all day-long in winter. It's thin, peeling, curly, white bark reflects the majority of the sun and heat away for the tree, greatly reducing sunscald damage risk.
What do paper birch trees look like?
Description of paper birch tree: Generally a medium-size tree, paper birch grows to about 40 feet in height. In good conditions it can reach 75 feet or more. The bark is reddish brown on younger plants, becoming creamy white with dark horizontal lines called lenticels in the third or fourth year.
What is the shape of a birch tree?
Physical description. A birch has smooth, resinous, varicoloured or white bark, marked by horizontal pores (lenticels), which usually peels horizontally in thin sheets, especially on young trees. On older trunks the thick, deeply furrowed bark breaks into irregular plates. Short, slender branches rise to a narrow pyramidal crown on a young tree;
Why are birches important?
Birches were among the first trees to become established after the glaciers receded. Hardy, quick growing, and relatively immune to disease and insect attack, they are valuable in reforestation and erosion control and as protective cover, or nurse trees, for development of more permanent plants.
What is the bark of birch used for?
Sweet birch ( B. lenta) is the source of birch oil and has been used to make birch beer, an effervescent beverage somewhat similar to root beer.
What is a betula?
Birch, (genus Betula ), genus of about 40 species of short-lived ornamental and timber trees and shrubs of the family Betulaceae, distributed throughout cool regions of the Northern Hemisphere. European white birch. European white birch ( Betula pendula ). G. Lord/Shostal Associates.
What is a Japanese monarch birch?
Subscribe Now. The Japanese monarch birch ( B. maximowicziana) is a valuable timber tree of Japan , especially in the plywood industry. Usually 30 metres (100 feet) high, with flaking gray or orange-gray bark, it has heart-shaped leaves about 15 cm (6 inches) long and is a hardy ornamental.
What do the leaves on a tree look like?
They are usually bright green, turning yellow in autumn.
Where is Bog Birch native to?
glandulosa) of North America, also called tundra dwarf birch or resin birch, and dwarf birch, or dwarf Arctic birch ( B. nana ), native to most far northern areas of the world, are small alpine and tundra shrubs commonly known as ground birch.
How to identify birch trees?
Typically, you can identify birch trees by their bark, leaves, and flowers. For example, some birches have thin peeling bark that exfoliates in long strips, whereas some species don’t peel. Also, birch leaves can be egg-shaped, triangular, or diamond-shaped. This article is a guide to identifying common birch trees.
What is the name of the white birch tree?
Other names for white birch tree include ‘downy birch,’ ‘hairy birch, ’ and ‘moor birch.’ . The white birch is sometimes confused with the silver birch ( Betula pendula ). However, it has smooth downy shoots. Compared to other birch trees, the leaves of white birch have coarsely serrated margins.
What is the color of birch bark?
Gray birch bark is a light gray, almost white color with black patches on the bark. Gray birch trees are medium-sized trees, growing between 20 and 30 ft. (6 – 10 m). The scientific name for gray birch trees— Betula populifolia —comes from the leaves that look like leaves on poplar trees.
What does birch bark look like?
Birch tree bark is usually whitish-gray, silver, or sometimes red. The bark on most birch trees has horizontal dark streaks that look like scoring (called lenticels). Birch tree bark is also well-known for its paper-like texture and peeling nature. The peeling bark on birch trees gives them ornamental value in wintertime.
How to tell if a birch tree is aspen or birch?
Another way to tell birch trees apart from aspen trees is by their leaves. Birch leaves tend to be triangular or spear-shaped with noticeable serrated margins.
What color are birch trees in the fall?
Autumn foliage of birch tree. Birch trees are deciduous trees that have stunning ornamental appeal in the fall. The leaves of birch trees turn from glossy green to magnificent shades of yellow in the fall. Birch tree fall colors can range from golden yellow to warm autumn hues of orange, bronze, and red.
What is a gray birch tree?
The gray birch tree is a fast-growing, slender deciduous tree, often with multiple trunks. Gray birch leaves are triangular shaped with an elongated tip. The ovate leaves have a glossy green upper side and a pale underside. Gray birch bark is a light gray, almost white color with black patches on the bark.
Words to Describe birch tree
As you've probably noticed, adjectives for " birch tree " are listed above. According to the algorithm that drives this website, the top 5 adjectives for "birch tree" are: rare black, solitary white, ambulatory, tall white, and tall, graceful. There are 46 other words to describe birch tree listed above.
Describing Words
The idea for the Describing Words engine came when I was building the engine for Related Words (it's like a thesaurus, but gives you a much broader set of related words, rather than just synonyms).
