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Betula nigra L.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Betula nigra' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/betula/betula-nigra/). Accessed 2025-01-18.

Genus

Common Names

  • River Birch

Synonyms

  • B. rubra Michx.

Glossary

glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glaucous
Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).
midrib
midveinCentral and principal vein in a leaf.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Betula nigra' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/betula/betula-nigra/). Accessed 2025-01-18.

Betula nigra

Betula nigra 'Heritage', selected for its particularly attractive bark, growing at the Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, USA. 2 May 2013. Image Paul W. Meyer.

A tree of pyramidal form 50 to 90 ft high, with a trunk often forked low down and, like the older branches, covered with large flakes of curling, blackish bark, which gives it a picturesque ruggedness of aspect seen in no other species except B. davurica; bark of young trees whitish; young shoots furnished with pale, round warts, and very downy. Leaves diamond-shaped to ovate, always wedge-shaped at the base, pointed, 11⁄2 to 31⁄2 in. long, 3⁄4 to 21⁄2 in. wide, conspicuously double-toothed or small-lobed; glossy green above, glaucous beneath; downy only on the midrib and chief veins, finally glabrous above; veins in six to nine pairs; leaf-stalk downy, 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long. Male catkins 2 to 3 in. long. Fruiting catkins 1 to 11⁄2 in. long, 1⁄2 in. thick, erect; scales downy.

Native of the eastern United States; introduced by Peter Collinson in 1736. This is one of the most striking of birches, and its dark rugged trunk contrasts remarkably with those of our native and other white-barked species. Although the trunk is sometimes undivided, a characteristic feature of the tree, both wild and cultivated, is its division low down into two or three erect limbs. In the south-eastern United States this birch inhabits the banks of ponds and water­courses, often where the ground is inundated for several weeks at a time. Sargent remarks that the seeds ripen early in the summer, and fall when the water is at its lowest; they immediately germinate in the moist, rich soil, and thus secure a foothold by the time the waters return. It thrives quite well in ordinary soil; at Kew a tree reached a height of 60 ft far away from any water. At the present time there are examples 30 to 40 ft high by the lake in the R.H.S. Garden at Wisley, Surrey; in Windsor Great Park; in the Chandlers Ford nursery of Messrs Hillier; and in the Winkworth Arboretum, Godalming, Surrey. A row of six has been planted in a street at Horsell, near Woking, Surrey, the tallest about 30 ft high.

Betula nigra

Betula nigra 'Heritage', selected for its particularly attractive bark, growing at the Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, USA. 2 May 2013. Image Paul W. Meyer.

Betula nigra

A group of multi-stem Betula nigra 'Heritage' growing at the Governor's Residence in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. 25 April 2016. Image Paul W. Meyer.

Betula nigra

Riverside plantings of Betula nigra growing on the floodplain of the Schuylkill River, near central Philadelphia, USA. Image Paul W. Meyer.

Betula nigra

Betula nigra in the Isabella Plantation, Richmond Park, London; 30 September 2011. Image Owen Johnson.

Betula nigra

A mature specimen of Betula nigra growing in a residential garden near Doylestown, Pennsylvania, USA, 31 May 2013. Note that its exfoliating bark tends to get darker and more plated with age. Image Paul W. Meyer.

Betula nigra

Betula nigra excels in a somewhat continental climate. This fine example grows at at Arboretum Kalmthout, Belgium. 1 October 2022. Image Tom Christian.

Betula nigra

The distinctive dark peeling bark of Betula nigra Mottisfont Abbey, Hampshire, UK. January 2018. Image Ron Kemeny.

Betula nigra

Dark bark on a large old specimen of Betula nigra at Arboretum Kalmthout (September 2015). Image John Grimshaw.

Betula nigra

Fruiting specimen on Betula nigra at the Von Gimborn Arboretum, The Netherlands (27 May 2008). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Betula nigra

Foliage on Betula nigra, from a tree at Arboretum Wespelaar, Belgium (18 June 2008). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Betula nigra

Fruiting catkin on Betula nigra (Von Gimborn Arboretum, The Netherlands – 27 May 2008). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Betula nigra

Densely pubescent young shoot on Betula nigra (Arboretum Wespelaar, Belgium – 18 June 2008). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Betula nigra

Betula nigra is a tree of riparian habitats (wild stand, Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas, USA – 25 February 2024). Image Julian Sutton.

Betula nigra

An old, somewhat decrepit wild specimen of Betula nigra showing evidence of branching from low down (Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas, USA – 25 February 2024). Image Julian Sutton.

Betula nigra

Bark of young Betula nigra peeling in large, coarse strips (wild tree, Big Thicket National Preserve, Texas, USA – 25 February 2024). Image Julian Sutton.

Betula nigra

In the British context this is an unusually fine Betula nigra. It was grown from seed gathered at the National Cemetery, North Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, USA (Ness Botanic Gardens, UK, July 2024).. Image John Grimshaw.

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