How big do black birch trees get?
40 to 50 feetAppearance of the Black Birch Tree It is a medium-sized tree that can reach 40 to 50 feet in height and be 25 to 45 feet across, but it is usually smaller, especially when grown in normal garden conditions.
What is black birch wood used for?
Uses. The wood of black birch is heavy at 47 pounds per cubic foot and is used for furniture, millwork, and cabinets. It is similar to yellow birch wood and often not distinguished from it in the lumber trade. The sap flows about a month later than maple sap, and much faster.
Are river birch and black birch the same?
The river birch, Betula nigra, also known as red birch, water birch or black birch, is native to the United States, with its geographical range encompassing almost the entire eastern half of the United States. Birches belong to the Betulaceae family. The genus Betula is birch and the species nigra means black.
Is black birch a hardwood?
Birch is a native hardwood that comes from the genus Betula. There are over a dozen species of birch trees native to North America, but the most common are white birch, yellow birch, and black birch.
Is black birch good firewood?
The black birch, also known as mountain mahogany, sweet birch and cherry birch, is probably the most desirable firewood within the birch family. The wood has dense fibers which allows it to burn long and hot. These qualities alone make it a prized firewood. The black birch also has a unique sweet smell when it burns.
Can you burn birch in wood stove?
Softwoods and resinous (oily) woods may burn inefficiently. For this reason, pine, eucalyptus, birch, aspen, and a few other species do not make the best logs for a wood burning stove.
How do I identify a black birch tree?
Some visual cues for spotting the black birch include: dark brown bark; green cones in the spring and brown cones in the late summer; dark, shiny, serrated green leaves in the summer and bright golden yellow leaves in the fall.
Why are birch trees planted in threes?
Height. One possible reason people plant silver birches in groups of three is to reduce their height. In the wild, this tree can attain 100 feet, making it too tall for many backyards and gardens.
What are birch trees good for?
Birch trees provide wood, bark, and extracts that are used in many commercial endeavors throughout the world. In particular, the bark of the birch tree has been used to make canoes, bowls, and housing because it's light, flexible, and waterproof.
What does Black Birch smell like?
I thought from the color of the bark that I knew what it was but with Black Birch, the easiest way to know for sure is to break off a small twig, scrape the soft bark off and smell. If it smells like strong wintergreen, which this tree did, it is black birch.
How long do black birch trees live?
In many landscapes, birch trees begin to decline within a few years, and many trees die well before reaching maturity. A healthy birch tree should be able to survive and thrive for 40-50 years.
Is birch or Oak stronger?
The hardness of a species of wood is measured with the Janka hardness test which determines the amount of force required to embed a small steel ball halfway into a plank of wood. Oak species are slightly harder than Birch – White Oak has a Janka rating of 1360 and Red Oak of 1290, while Birch has a rating of 1260.
What is birch wood good for?
Birch Wood: Uses The wood is manufactured, turned, and crafted to make toys, tongue depressors, toothpicks, paper pulp and high-end furniture. Birch wood is fine-grained and pale in color with a satiny sheen. Birch plywood is made from laminations of birch veneer and it's light but strong.
Is birch good for cutting boards?
As a member of the hardwood family, Birch wood is durable and won't score easily making it a great candidate for a cutting serving board in your kitchen.
Is birch wood better than pine?
Compared to pine, you will not feel any specific smell from birch wood and as it is more stronger and stable, birch is better suitable for smaller size constructions. However, it is more expensive material than pine.
Is birch wood hard or soft?
hardwoodsBirch is one of the most popular hardwoods for veneer and interior work. It tends to be a light reddish brown, with nearly white sapwood. Occasionally figured pieces are available with a wide, shallow curl similar to the curl found in Cherry.
How long are the leaves of a black birch?
The leaves of Black birch is green, ovate, up to 10 cm (3.9 in) long . The leaf margin is serrated.
Where is the Black Birch native to?
The Black birch is native to eastern North America. The conspicuous fall foliage makes it a popular garden tree. Young twigs taste sweet.
What is the bark of a black birch tree?
Black birch is a lovely tree and produces beautiful wood that darkens with age, so no reason to begrudge its recent or anticipated successes. The bark resembles that of black cherry: lustrous, smooth, and dark red on young trees, and black, with loose, curled, scaly black plates on old trees.
What is the best product from black birch?
Native Americans used the leaves and bark to treat a variety of ailments, but the best known non-timber product from black birch is birch beer. Donald Culross Peattie, in his 1940s book, A Natural History of Trees in Eastern and Central North America, describes the process: “Tap the tree as the Sugar Maple is tapped, in spring when the sap is rising and the buds are just swelling; jug the sap and throw in a handful of shelled corn, and natural fermentation – so the mountaineers tell us – will finish the job for you.”
Why is the spruce tree not straight?
Unfortunately the tree fights for space in the canopy and grows toward available light. Making it not so straight as its taller neighbors.
Does black birch have a hemlock?
In recent years, black birch has filled in where hemlock woolly adelgid, a deadly non-native insect, has taken out the hemlock.
Can you use black birch for veneer?
Before there were dry kilns that make it possible to tailor a drying schedule to suit different species, black birch had a bad reputation for its insistence on warping, but now this trait has been conquered, and sometimes it is just mixed in with yellow birch at the sawmill. Once dry, it is stable and holds its shape. It glues well, can be turned on a lathe, and is used for veneer, as well as for furniture, paneling, and flooring.
What does a black birch look like?
There is one main look-a-like for Betula lenta, the Cherry tree. When young, the black birch can look very similar to a young cherry . A key identifier here is the distinct winter green smell produced by freshly crushed twigs of the sweet birch, cherry trees lack this smell. Another key identifier is the horizontally peeling bark still present on the young birch trees – this does not occur in cherry trees.
What is the most difficult birch tree to identify?
The black birch is the most tricky of all the birch to identify. For one thing it has a very close look-a-like in its younger years. Then, as the sweet birch matures, it begins to no longer look like a birch tree. This birch is also known as the sugar birch here in Vermont, as this is the main tree used for obtaining birch sap.
What is the scientific name of a birch tree?
The scientific name of this tree is Betula lenta. The birches make up the genus of Betula. This is in the family of Betulaceae, which also encompasses the poplar, alders, hazels, and hornbeams.
Where is the sweet birch native to?
The sweet birch is native to eastern North America. Its range starts from southern Maine and Quebec to Eastern Ontario. It then proceeds south down to Delaware and east to Ohio. In the Appalachian mountains the black birch can be found as far south as northern Georgia.
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 long are white birch leaves?
The triangular leaves have a rounded base and tapered tip. Also, look for unevenly serrated margins. White birch leaves measure 1.2” to 2.4” (3 – 6 cm) long and up to 2” (5 cm) wide. White birch leaves and male catkins.
Why is the Betula tree called the White Birch?
The paper birch tree was used to make canoes. That’s why the Betula papyrifera tree is also called the canoe birch tree. Its brilliant white bark is the reason it’s called the white birch.
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.
Why is a sweet birch called a sweet birch?
The sweet birch tree gets its name from the scent of wintergreen in the twigs, bark, and leaves. The other common names of Betula lenta refer to other features of the tree. For example, ‘black birch’ due to its dark bark color. ‘Cherry birch’ and ‘mahogany birch’ because of the way the bark looks on mature birch trees. And ‘spice birch’ due to the aromatic wintergreen scent it emits.
Why is the paper birch tree called the white birch tree?
The paper birch tree has ornamental value in garden landscapes due to its golden fall color and thin, exfoliating, smooth pure white bark. Leaves are egg-shaped with irregularly toothed margins.
What Color is Birch Wood?
The most prized part of the tree where birch is concerned is the sapwood or outermost section of the tree. It’s usually more of a creamy white, but can be almost a pure white in some cases. It develops a yellowish-red tint with age. The innermost portion, or the heartwood, also gets some use. It’s more of a reddish -brown.
What Does the Grain Pattern of Birch Wood Look Like?
Birch wood is typically straight-grained with a fine and even texture, though some pieces have more of a wavy grain and others may possess a curl quite like cherry.
How Dense/Hard is Birch Wood?
To identify the actual hardness or durability of any given wood type, wood is assessed on the Janka Scale. During a Janka Test, a small metal ball is pressed into the wood until its halfway embedded . The amount of force needed to do so is recorded and the wood will then have a “pounds of force” rating or “Janka” value.
Where Does Yellow Birch Wood Come From?
Although there are many varieties of birch across the globe, most birch in the United States comes from the yellow birch tree , also known by the scientific name Betula alleghaniensis Britt.
Can Birch Wood Furniture Go Outside?
It’s never a good idea to put solid wood outdoors. Even if it does have a protective coating, the elements will eventually cause damage and maintaining pieces requires a considerable amount of time. When it comes to yellow birch wood, it’s even more important to keep it indoors. It is highly-susceptible to rot and infestation.
What is birch wood called?
When birch is mentioned as an option for fine furniture in the United States, it’s typically yellow birch wood, sometimes called golden birch, being referenced. Yellow birch wood is light in color and smooth-grained, not unlike maple wood, although birch tends to yellow more visibly over time.
What is the most common birch tree?
There are over a dozen species of birch trees native to North America, but the most common are white birch, yellow birch , and black birch . Yellow birch and white birch are the two most commonly found in woodworking.
How tall does a birch tree grow?
Growing to 80 feet, its bark is dark in color, but unlike the dark river birch, the skin is relatively tight and smooth, with deep vertical scores. From a distance, the impression is of a smooth, silver bark marked by irregular vertical black lines.
When do birches appear?
All North American birches have double-toothed leaves and are yellow and showy in the fall. Male catkins appear in late summer near the tips of small twigs or long shoots. The female cone-like catkins follow in the spring and bare small winged samaras that drop from that mature structure.
What is the difference between birch and alder?
Alders, from the family Alnus, are very similar to the birch; the principal distinguishing feature is that alders have catkins that are woody and do not disintegrate in the way that birch catkins do. Birches also have bark that more readily layers into segments;
What family are birches in?
All birches fall into the general plant family of Betulaceae, which are closely related to the Fagaceae family, including beeches and oaks. The various birch species fall into the Betula genus, and there are several that are common North American trees in natural environments or used for landscape design purposes.
What is the largest birch tree?
Yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis): This tree is native to forests of the northeast U.S. and is also known as the swamp birch due to the fact that it is often found in marshy areas. It is the largest of the birches, easily growing to 100 feet in height. It has silvery-yellow bark that peels in very thin layers. Its bark does not have the thick layers seen in paper birches nor the very rough texture seen in river birches.
What is a birch tree?
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).
What is birch sap used for?
Interestingly, the sweet sap of the birch can be reduced into syrup and was once used as birch beer. The tree is valuable to wildlife species that depend on the catkins and seeds for food, and the trees are an important timber for woodworking and cabinetry.
What is the color of birch?
The ornamental interest of Himalayan birch includes pretty spring flowers, rich yellow fall color, and bright white papery bark. It is a medium-sized tree with a single trunk that quickly branches out into a pyramid shape. This birch species is very susceptible to the bronze birch borer 2 and usually requires removal and/or replacement, especially in warmer zones. It is a heartier and longer-lived tree in cooler climates.
What is a birch tree?
The Spruce / Letícia Almeida. Birch trees belong to the genus Betula and are classified as part of the Betulaceae family of plants. They are typically small to medium-sized trees and shrubs found in temperate zones in the Northern Hemisphere. Some varieties grow in shrubby clusters. Others are trees that clump with multiple trunks.
What are some other names for bog birch?
Other names for this tree include bog birch and arctic birch.
How long does a yellow birch tree live?
Yellow birch, named for the color of its bark, is a relatively long-lived birch which typically grows 150 years and may even grow up to 300 years in old-growth forests. It is a single-stemmed tree with yellow-bronze bark that peels in narrow horizontal strips.
What is the pest that attacks birch trees?
Insect pests are most likely to strike a birch tree in areas where it is wounded or diseased. By keeping your trees well pruned and free of damaged branches, you can greatly reduce the likelihood of infestation by bronze birch borer or other insects.
What is a cherry birch tree?
Cherry birch is a large tree that grows from a single main trunk. Shiny, red-brown bark and yellow foliage make this an attractive tree for lawns and naturalized areas. The bark, on mature trees, develops vertical cracks that form irregular scaly plates, closely resembling the bark of cherry trees.
How many types of birch trees are there?
Here are 11 common types of birch trees for your landscape.
What is the color of birch bark?
The European white birch ( Betula pendula ), also known as silver birch always has a silver-white color in its bark. Depending on the variety, it is either smooth, spotty with dark grey, or flaky.
How tall do birch trees get?
Some species and varieties of birch trees grow only 10 feet and some can grow as tall as 60 feet. The trees are generally much taller than they are wide.
How to identify a birch tree ( Betula )?
In this article, we will cover three different species of birch trees. By association, you will be able to recognize other species and varieties.
Where do birch trees grow in the US?
There are dozens of birch species that grow across the US. The two species – European white birch (Betula pendula) and River birch (Betula nigra) pretty much cover all 50 US states [2].
When do birch trees bloom and release pollen?
The birch trees allergy season is spring. In California, they release pollen during March and April. In Calgary, Canada, which has a much colder climate, the trees release pollen during April and May. Therefore, it is fair to assume that the colder East Coast of the US also experiences peak birch pollen season during April and May.
How do you know if a birch tree is releasing pollen?
All birch trees have separate male and female flowers on the same tree (monoecious). The mature male flower (catkin) is responsible for producing and releasing pollen and causing birch tree allergies.
What kind of bark does a birch tree have?
In contrast, the River birch has a flaky brown/beige bark. The trees generally have long limp twigs that hang loosely, which have serrated almost triangular leaves with saw-tooth edges.
