Betula skvortsovii
Sponsor
Kindly sponsored by the Banks family in memory of Lawrence Banks CBE DL VMH
Credits
Hugh A. McAllister, Kenneth Ashburner, Paul Bartlett & Martin Deasy (2026)
Recommended citation
McAllister, H. A., Ashburner, K., Bartlett, P. & Deasy M. (2026), 'Betula skvortsovii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Other taxa in genus
- Betula alleghaniensis
- Betula alnoides
- Betula ashburneri
- Betula bomiensis
- Betula × caerulea
- Betula calcicola
- Betula celtiberica
- Betula chichibuensis
- Betula chinensis
- Betula cordifolia
- Betula corylifolia
- Betula costata
- Betula cylindrostachya
- Betula davurica
- Betula delavayi
- Betula ermanii
- Betula fargesii
- Betula fruticosa
- Betula glandulosa
- Betula globispica
- Betula gmelinii
- Betula grossa
- Betula gynoterminalis
- Betula humilis
- Betula kweichowensis
- Betula lenta
- Betula luminifera
- Betula lutea
- Betula maximowicziana
- Betula medwediewii
- Betula megrelica
- Betula michauxii
- Betula microphylla
- Betula middendorffii
- Betula nana
- Betula nigra
- Betula occidentalis
- Betula ovalifolia
- Betula papyrifera
- Betula pendula
- Betula populifolia
- Betula potaninii
- Betula pubescens
- Betula pumila
- Betula raddeana
- Betula schmidtii
- Betula tianschanica
- Betula utilis
- Betula utilis subsp. albosinensis
- Betula utilis subsp. jacquemontii
- Betula utilis subsp. occidentalis
- Betula utilis subsp. utilis
Editorial Note
This TSO article is an edited digest of the species account in Kenneth Ashburner and Hugh McAllister, The Genus Betula: A Taxonomic Revision of Birches (2013; repr. 2016).
Trees and Shrubs Online, 23 June 2026
Shrub with several stems to 2.5 m. Twigs thinly covered with patent hairs; stipules persistent. Young shoots initially hairy with silky and patent hairs on veins, covered with reddish glands. Petiole 3–5 mm, with petiole:blade ratio c. 1:7. Leaves from very small to 35 × 23 mm, breadth more than half length, oblong-elliptic, often flattish, with reddish glands on veins and lamina beneath, with 6–8 pairs of veins and nearly always with weak basal vein pair; veins beneath silky hairy; 2–3 teeth between secondary vein ends; secondary veins 2.5–3 mm apart (–3.5 mm towards apex). Male catkins c. 15 × 3.5 mm in dormant state; scales triangular, peltate. Fruiting catkins borne singly or in twos at twig ends or on spur shoots, to 14 × 7 mm, not opening on ripening so that fruits are retained within the persistent catkin for a considerable time; scale c. 5 × 4 mm with mid-lobe c. 3 mm and laterals c. 2.5 mm, parallel sided to more or less spatulate, glabrous except for ciliate margins, with lobe apices having particularly long cilia which are often twisted together. Seed c. 2 × 2 mm. Style c. 1 mm, base hairy; wing a narrow rim. Probably tetraploid: 2n=56 (counted from seedling which is probably of this species).
Distribution China Qinghai, northwest Sichuan
Habitat Dry slopes and thickets in association with species of spiny shrubs of Rosa, Caragana, Berberis, Zanthoxylum, Artemisia, Quercus, and Salix.
This little-known species was described by McAllister and Ashburner (2013) from shrubs with distinctive small, flattish, few-veined, glandular leaves collected in dry scrub in Qinghai and Sichuan by two American expeditions in 1996 and 2006. Named in memory of the Russian birch expert Alexey K. Skvortsov (1920–2008), the species is extremely rare in cultivation, and is probably of scant horticultural interest beyond being an interesting, drought-tolerant, neat-leaved shrub which may have attractive catkins in spring.
The small, erect, persistent, fruiting catkins, and the nutlets with only the narrowest of wings clearly place this species within the Betula potaninii complex. It is distinguished from other species of this group by its flattish leaves with the veins on the upper surface not appearing much impressed and by its rather oblong leaf shape (in contrast to the lanceolate to circular leaves of most of the other species). The presence of conspicuous reddish glands on the shoots and leaf undersides distinguishes it from all other species of the group except B. delavayi.
In habitat, and to some extent in appearance, Betula skvortsovii has some similarities with B. chinensis, but that species has ovate leaves broadest in the lower half and a longer petiole (the petiole:leaf blade ratio is about 1:4, rather than 1:7 as in B. skvortsovii). More recent collections suggest that on strongly growing specimens the leaves may be more deeply ribbed with more numerous veins, and that the species could be a glandular northern vicariant of B. bomiensis. Another distinguishing feature appears to be the usual presence of a pair of weak secondary veins at the base of the leaf – these are absent in B. bomiensis.