Sweet Birch
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| Sweet Birch | ||||||||||||||||
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| Image:Betula lenta subsps lenta 01-10-2005 14.53.56.JPG | ||||||||||||||||
| Conservation status | ||||||||||||||||
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Secure
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| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||||
| Betula lenta L. |
Sweet Birch (Betula lenta), also known as Black Birch, Cherry Birch, Mahogany Birch, River Birch, or Spice Birch is a species of birch native to eastern North America, from southern Maine west to southernmost Ontario and southern Michigan, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia.
It is a medium-sized deciduous tree reaching 20 m tall with a trunk up to 60 cm diameter. The bark is (unlike most birches) rough, dark blackish-brown, cracking into irregular scaly plates. The twigs, when scraped, have a strong scent of oil of wintergreen. The leaves are alternate, ovate, 5-10 cm long and 4-8 cm broad, with a finely serrated margin. The flowers are wind-pollinated catkins 3-6 cm long, the male catkins pendulous, the female catkins erect. The fruit, maturing in fall, is composed of numerous tiny winged seeds packed between the catkin bracts.
Sweet Birch was used commercially in the past for production of oil of wintergreen before modern industrial synthesis; the tree's name reflects this scent of the shoots.
The sap flows about a month later than maple sap, and much faster. The trees can be tapped in a similar fashion, but must be gathered about three times more often. Birch sap can be boiled the same as maple sap, but its syrup is stronger (like molasses).
The Sweet Birch's leaves serve as food for some lepidopteran caterpillars. See List of Lepidoptera which feed on Birches.
Gallery
Betula lenta subsps lenta 01-10-2005 14.54.08.JPG
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Black birch bark.jpg
Birch bark |
Koeh-021.jpg
19th century illustration |
External links
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
