Betula lenta
Betula uber
cherry birch, sweet birch
Virginia roundleaf birch
of mature trunks and branches light grayish brown to dark brown or nearly black, smooth, close, furrowed and broken into shallow scales with age.
with taste and odor of wintergreen when crushed, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, usually covered with small resinous glands.
with taste and odor of wintergreen when crushed, glabrous, covered with small resinous glands.
blade ovate to oblong-ovate with 12–18 pairs of lateral veins, 5–10 × 3–6 cm, base rounded to cordate, margins finely and sharply serrate or obscurely doubly serrate, teeth fine, sharp, apex acuminate;
surfaces abaxially mostly glabrous, except sparsely pubescent along major veins and in vein axils, often with scattered, minute, resinous glands.
blade nearly orbiculate to broadly elliptic with 2–6 pairs of lateral veins, 2–5 × 2–4 cm, base rounded to cordate or truncate, margins irregularly serrate or dentate, apex broadly obtuse to rounded;
surfaces abaxially glabrous to sparsely pubescent, especially along major veins and in vein axils, often with scattered resinous glands.
erect, ovoid to nearly globose, 1.5–4 × 1.5–2.5 cm, usually remaining intact for a period after release of fruits in fall;
scales mostly glabrous, lobes diverging at or proximal to middle, central lobe short, cuneate, lateral lobes extended to slightly ascending, longer and broader than central lobe.
erect, ellipsoid-cylindric, 1–2 × 1–1.5 cm, shattering with fruits in fall;
scales glabrous, lobes diverging distal to middle, central lobe ascending, shorter than lateral lobes.
with wings narrower than body, broadest near center, not extended beyond body apically.
with wings narrower than to as wide as body, broadest near summit, extended beyond body apically.
= 28.
Betula lenta
Betula uber
Betula lenta is a dominant tree in the northern hardwood forests of the northern Appalachians and a valuable source of timber. It was formerly the chief commercial source of wintergreen oil (methyl salicylate), which is distilled from its wood. Betula lenta is most easily separated from B. alleghaniensis by its close bark and the glabrous scales of infructescences.
Native Americans used Betula lenta medicinally to treat dysentery, colds, diarrhea, fevers, soreness, and milky urine, and as a spring tonic.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Of conservation concern.
Betula uber, described in 1918, was not seen again until its widely celebrated rediscovery in 1974 (P. M. Mazzeo 1974; C. F. Reed 1975; D. W. Ogle and P. M. Mazzeo 1976; D. J. Preston 1976). It is apparently allied to B. lenta (W. J. Hayden and S. M. Hayden 1984; T. L. Sharik and R. H. Ford 1984); whether it constitutes a separate species or simply mutant individuals of B. lenta is a matter of controversy. Seeds obtained from the original single extant population of 17 trees and grown at the U.S. National Arboretum have produced an apparent hybrid swarm of offspring varying in leaf characteristics from those of B. uber to those of B. lenta (with which it occurs).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Go Botany
MD Biodiversity
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
