Flora of North America species comparison

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Betula pumila

bog birch, bouleau nain, dwarf birch, glandular birch, low birch, scrub birch, swamp birch
Habit Shrubs, coarse, irregular, or spreading, to 4 m.
Bark

dark reddish brown, smooth, close;

lenticels pale, inconspicuous.
Twigs

without taste and odor of wintergreen, glabrous to moderately pubescent, with scattered small resinous glands, especially near nodes.
Leaf

blade elliptic, obovate, or nearly orbiculate (to sometimes reniform) with 2–6 pairs of lateral veins, 2.5–5(–7) × 1–5 cm, base cuneate to rounded, margins crenate to dentate, apex usually broadly acute or obtuse to rounded;

surfaces abaxially glabrous or slightly pubescent to heavily velutinous or tomentose, often with scattered resinous glands.
Infructescences

erect, cylindric, 0.8–1.5(–2) × 0.8–1 cm, shattering with fruits in fall;

scales glabrous to pubescent, lobes diverging slightly distal to middle, central lobe narrow, elongate, lateral lobes shorter and broader, extended.
Samaras

with wings slightly narrower than body, broadest near center, not extended beyond body apically.
2n

= 56.

Betula pumila
Phenology Flowering late spring.
Habitat Bogs, calcareous fens, wooded swamps, muskegs, lake shores
Elevation 0–700 m (0–2300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; CO; CT; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; MA; ME; MI; MN; MT; ND; NE; NJ; NY; OH; OR; PA; SD; VT; WA; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; SPM
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Betula pumila is sometimes treated (in part) as a variety of B. glandulosa Michaux, to which it is related at a subgeneric or sectional level. On the basis of morphology, however, it forms a cohesive and distinct entity (J. J. Furlow 1984). The two main varieties into which B. pumila is often divided (a more southern B. pumila var. pumila, with mostly pubescent, glandless leaves, and a more northern B. pumila var. glandulifera, with less pubescent, gland-bearing leaves) may represent geographic races; these are not well marked, however, and they do not hold up well when the complex is examined as a whole.

The Ojibwa used Betula pumila medicinally as a gynecological aid and as a respiratory aid (D. E. Moerman 1986).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Betulaceae > subfam. Betuloideae > Betula
Sibling taxa
B. alleghaniensis, B. cordifolia, B. glandulosa, B. kenaica, B. lenta, B. michauxii, B. minor, B. murrayana, B. nana, B. neoalaskana, B. nigra, B. occidentalis, B. papyrifera, B. pendula, B. populifolia, B. pubescens, B. uber
Synonyms B. borealis, B. glandulifera, B. glandulosa var. glandulifera, B. glandulosa var. hallii, B. hallii, B. nana var. glandulifera, B. pubescens subsp. borealis, B. pumila var. glabra, B. pumila var. glandulifera, B. pumila var. renifolia
Name authority Linnaeus: Mant. Pl., 124. (1767)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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