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Plant Identification Guide
Paper birch Betula papyrifera
Also Known As: Paperbark birch, silver birch, canoe birch
Plant Family: Birch (Betulaceae)
Did you know? “The sap and inner bark is used as emergency food. White
birch can be tapped in the spring to obtain sap from which beer, syrup, wine or
vinegar is made. The inner bark can be dried and ground into a meal and used
as a thickener in soups or added to flour used in making bread. A tea is made
from the root bark and young leaves of white birch. It was also used by native
Americans to make canoes, buckets, and baskets. …North American Indian
tribes used white birch to treat skin problems of various rashes; skin sores, and
burns.” Prepared By Lincoln M. Moore @ USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center
Identification Hints
Plant Description
Birches have flowers in small clusters
(catkins) which hang from the
branches and mature before leaves
emerge. Paper birch has white,
peeling bark but some western
varieties can have brown or coppery
bark. In the East, several birches could
be confused with paper birch. Gray
birch (B. populifolia) has whitish bark
but does not peel and is generally
a smaller tree. Leaves are longer
with narrower points at the tips and
solitary male catkins (vs. 3 or more in
paper birch).
A medium-sized tree that grows up
to 70 ft (21 m) tall, often with several
trunks.
Paper birch is often confused with
ornamental birches, in particular the
weeping birch (B. pendula). Weeping
birch has drooping twigs and
branches and diamond shaped black
patches on the bark. Downy birch
(B. pubsescens) can have white bark,
but does not peel. It has fine, singletoothed leaf margins (paper birch as
two sizes of teeth).
Bark: Thin, smooth and dark on young
stems, becoming bright creamy white
with a peeling, papery texture.
Comments
Leaves: Oval or triangular-shaped,
greener on the topside and paler on the
underside.
Flowers: In long, yellowish clumps
called catkins. Flowers bloom in midspring.
Fruits: Paper birch fruits are tiny
winged-nutlets about 1.5 mm long by
0.8 mm wide.
Habitat: Grows best in well-drained
soils with cold soil temperatures and
ample moisture. This species grows
best in full sunlight and is very shade
intolerant.
Information sources:
USDA Plants Database (plants.usda.gov/java/
profile?symbol=BEPA); Virginia Tech Forestry
Department Dendrology Database
(www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/DENDROLOGY/syllabus/
factsheet.cfm?ID=14); USFS FEIS Database; Photo
courtesy of Paul Alaback
budburst.org
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