Silver Lining- Silver Birch
Latin name: Betula pendula
Native to Europe, Asia and introduced to North America, silver birch is a moderately sized. deciduous tree with distinctive white, shedding bark. Birch is a popular garden tree, although it tends to thrive in dry woodland, downs and heaths.
Reaching up to 30 metres in height when mature, birch forms a light canopy with its slim, white braches, which are often covered in small and dark warts. Birch possesses small, green leaves, which are shaped triangularly with a pointed edge. These slowly fade to a pale yellow colour in the autumn months before dropping from the tree all together.
Silver birch germinates and reproduces through the method of wind dispersion, which commences when the catkins release their pollen to the environment. These seeds are often dispersed in autumn. After successful pollination is achieved the female catkin turns to a dark crimson colour, when the catkin was previously of green colouration. The species sometimes hybridises with another native birch tree called the downy birch. However, the two species can be identified and separated by the fact that the downy birch has hairy leaves and young shoots, whereas the same parts on a silver birch are virtually hairless.
The open canopy that the silver birch provides is ideal habitat for a variety of plants to grow, including grasses, mosses, bluebells and violets. The species also offers shelter and a home to over 300 species of insect, with the leaves acting as an attraction for aphids, who in turn, lure an abundance of ladybirds to feed upon them. Birch trees are also affiliated with specific fungi species including fly agaric and the woolly milk cap. With regards to birdlife, woodpeckers often nest in the trunk of the tree, whilst birds such as siskins, greenfinches and redpoll have a preference for the seeds of birch.
There are several uses for birch wood due to its tough and heavy characteristics. It is perfectly suitable for the crafting of furniture items, whilst it was previously utilised in the Lancashire cotton industry to produce bobbins and spools. The bark is also used for tanning leather. However, birch products are not usually crafted from British trees, due largely to their relatively small size in comparison to their European counterparts.
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| Image by Tim Graham |
Native to Europe, Asia and introduced to North America, silver birch is a moderately sized. deciduous tree with distinctive white, shedding bark. Birch is a popular garden tree, although it tends to thrive in dry woodland, downs and heaths.
Reaching up to 30 metres in height when mature, birch forms a light canopy with its slim, white braches, which are often covered in small and dark warts. Birch possesses small, green leaves, which are shaped triangularly with a pointed edge. These slowly fade to a pale yellow colour in the autumn months before dropping from the tree all together.
Silver birch germinates and reproduces through the method of wind dispersion, which commences when the catkins release their pollen to the environment. These seeds are often dispersed in autumn. After successful pollination is achieved the female catkin turns to a dark crimson colour, when the catkin was previously of green colouration. The species sometimes hybridises with another native birch tree called the downy birch. However, the two species can be identified and separated by the fact that the downy birch has hairy leaves and young shoots, whereas the same parts on a silver birch are virtually hairless.
The open canopy that the silver birch provides is ideal habitat for a variety of plants to grow, including grasses, mosses, bluebells and violets. The species also offers shelter and a home to over 300 species of insect, with the leaves acting as an attraction for aphids, who in turn, lure an abundance of ladybirds to feed upon them. Birch trees are also affiliated with specific fungi species including fly agaric and the woolly milk cap. With regards to birdlife, woodpeckers often nest in the trunk of the tree, whilst birds such as siskins, greenfinches and redpoll have a preference for the seeds of birch.
There are several uses for birch wood due to its tough and heavy characteristics. It is perfectly suitable for the crafting of furniture items, whilst it was previously utilised in the Lancashire cotton industry to produce bobbins and spools. The bark is also used for tanning leather. However, birch products are not usually crafted from British trees, due largely to their relatively small size in comparison to their European counterparts.
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