Betula papyrifera
Betula uber
bouleau blanc, bouleau à papier, canoe birch, paper birch, western paper birch, white birch
Virginia roundleaf birch
of young trunks and branches dark reddish brown, smooth, in maturity creamy to chalky white or pale to (infrequently) dark brown, readily exfoliating in paper-thin sheets;
lenticels pale, horizontal, in maturity dark, much expanded, horizontal.
without strong odor and taste of wintergreen, slightly to moderately pubescent, infrequently with scattered, small, resinous glands.
with taste and odor of wintergreen when crushed, glabrous, covered with small resinous glands.
blade ovate with 9 or fewer pairs of lateral veins, 5–9(–12) × 4–7 cm, base rounded, cuneate, or truncate, margins sharply to coarsely or irregularly doubly serrate or serrate-dentate, apex acute to short-acuminate;
surfaces abaxially sparsely to moderately pubescent, often velutinous along major veins and in vein axils, covered with 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.
pendulous, cylindric, 2.5–5 × 0.6–1.2 cm, readily shattering with fruits in late fall;
scales pubescent to glabrous, lobes diverging at or proximal to middle, central lobe narrowly elongate, obtuse, lateral lobes about equal in length to central lobe but several times broader, strongly divergent, held nearly at right angles to axis.
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 as broad as or slightly broader than body, extended nearly beyond body apically.
with wings narrower than to as wide as body, broadest near summit, extended beyond body apically.
= 56, 70, 84.
Betula papyrifera
Betula uber
Betula papyrifera is a well-known tree of the northern forest with its paper-thin, white, peeling bark. The bark, which has a high oil content and is consequently waterproof, was used for a wide variety of building and clothing purposes by the American Indians, including the covering of the familiar birch bark canoe. It is still used for various purposes, including basketmaking, in Canada and Alaska. Variants having more or less close, dark brown bark (B. papyrifera var. commutata) occur locally throughout the wide range of this species; this characteristic appears to be largely environmentally caused. The species is an important successional tree, coming up readily after fires, logging, or the abandonment of cultivated land. The relatively soft, whitish wood is used extensively for such items as clothespins, spools, ice cream sticks, and toothpicks, as well as for pulpwood for paper.
Betula papyrifera is the state tree of New Hampshire.
Native Americans use Betula papyrifera medicinally in enemas, to shrivel the womb, to alleviate stomach cramps and pain, and as a tonic (D. E. Moerman 1986).
Betula ×sandbergii Britton is a fairly common hybrid, occurring where the ranges of the parents (B. papyrifera Marshall and B. pumila Linnaeus) come into contact. In most vegetative features it is intermediate between the parental conditions (K. E. Clausen 1963; C. O. Rosendahl 1928).
(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.)
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