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Betula potaninii Batal.

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Betula potaninii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/betula/betula-potaninii/). Accessed 2026-05-15.

Family

  • Betulaceae

Genus

Synonyms

  • B. wilsonii Bean

Glossary

nutlet
Small nut. Term may also be applied to an achene or part of a schizocarp.
appressed
Lying flat against an object.
ciliate
Fringed with long hairs.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
lobe
Division of a leaf or other object. lobed Bearing lobes.
midrib
midveinCentral and principal vein in a leaf.
orbicular
Circular.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
prostrate
Lying flat.

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 potaninii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/betula/betula-potaninii/). Accessed 2026-05-15.

A shrub 6 to 10 ft high; lower branches decumbent or prostrate; branchlets thickly clothed the first season with forward-pointing, somewhat appressed, pale brown hairs, glabrous and slightly warted the second season. Stipules triangular-ovate, silky. Leaves ovate, pointed, rounded or wedge-shaped at the base, irregularly, often doubly, toothed; 34 to 134 in. long, 38 to 1 in. wide; veins deeply sunken and forming parallel grooves above, prominent beneath, in twelve to twenty-two pairs; dark green, becoming glabrous except on the hairy veins above, clothed beneath with long, brown, silky hairs, especially on the veins and midrib; leaf-stalk 112 to 18 in. long, silky. Female catkins, 34 in. long; scales three-lobed, 110 in. long, the central lobe twice or more than twice as long as the rounded side-lobes, ciliate. Nutlet 116 in. diameter, ovate-orbicular, the wing narrow, ciliate towards the end. Male catkins 12 in. long.

Native of W. China at altitudes of 7,000 to 9,000 ft. Introduced by Wilson in 1909, who describes it as often hanging down over cliffs. It is very distinct from other dwarf birches in its silky-hairy leaves with numerous veins.