Betula pendula
Betula murrayana
bouleau pleureur, European birch, European weeping birch, European white birch, silver birch, weeping birch
Murray's birch
of mature trunks and branches creamy to silvery white, smooth, exfoliating as long strands;
lenticels dark, horizontally expanded.
of mature trunk and branches dark red to reddish brown, smooth, close;
lenticels pale, conspicuous, horizontally expanded.
pendulous;
twigs glabrous, usually dotted with small resinous glands.
with taste and odor of wintergreen when crushed, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, covered with small resinous glands.
blade broadly ovate to rhombic with 5–18 pairs of lateral veins, 3–7 × 2.5–5 cm, base cuneate, rarely truncate, margins coarsely and sharply doubly serrate, apex acuminate;
surfaces abaxially glabrous to sparsely pubescent, covered with minute, resinous glands.
blade ovate with 7–10 pairs of lateral veins, 5–11 × 3–6 cm, base cuneate, margins sharply and obscurely doubly serrate, apex acute or only slightly acuminate;
surfaces abaxially sparsely pubescent to glabrous.
erect to nearly pendulous, cylindric, 2–3.5 × 0.6–1 cm, shattering with fruits in fall;
scales adaxially sparsely pubescent, lobes diverging at middle, central lobe obtuse, much shorter than lateral lobes, lateral lobes broad, rounded, extended.
erect, ovoid, 2–4 × 1.5–3 cm, remaining intact for a period after release of fruits in late fall;
scales sparsely pubescent to glabrous, lobes ascending, branching at middle, slightly unequal in length.
with wings much broader than body, broadest near center, extended beyond body apically.
with wings narrower than body, broadest near summit, not extended beyond body apically.
= 28, 56.
= 112.
Betula pendula
Betula murrayana
The Eurasian weeping birch (Betula pendula) is extensively cultivated throughout the temperate range of the flora, and it has been known to persist or to become locally naturalized in several areas, particularly in the Northeast. In vegetative features it resembles B. populifolia Marshall, to which it is closely allied; it can easily be distinguished from the latter by its peeling bark, as well as by its mostly pubescent leaves with somewhat shorter, acuminate apices.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Of conservation concern.
Betula murrayana is an octoploid derivative of Betula × purpusii (= B. alleghaniensis Britton × B. pumila Linnaeus) (B. V. Barnes and B. P. Dancik 1985). It is intermediate between B. alleghaniensis and B. pumila in most vegetative features, but in characters such as leaf size, it approaches B. alleghaniensis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites:
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
PNW Herbaria 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
MI Flora
