Paper Birch

Encyclopedia : P : PA : PAP : Paper Birch

Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera), also known as Canoe Birch or American White Birch, is a species of birch native to northern North America, from Newfoundland west to Alaska, south to Pennsylvania and Washington, with small isolated populations further south in mountains to North Carolina and Colorado.

It is a medium-sized deciduous tree reaching 20 m tall (exceptionally to 35 m) with a trunk up to 80 cm diameter. The bark is white, commonly brightly so, flaking in fine horizontal strips, and often with small black marks and scars. The leaves are alternate, ovate, 5-12 cm long and 4-9 cm broad, with a serrated margin. The flowers are wind-pollinated catkins 3-8 cm long, the fruit maturing in fall composed of numerous tiny winged seeds packed between the catkin bracts.

Paper Birch bark

Paper Birch is the Provincial tree of Saskatchewan and the State tree of New Hampshire.

The names reflect the use of the tree's bark, primarily by Native Americans, for a writing material and also that the waterproof bark was used for the outer covering of canoes.

Animal use

Birch bark is a winter staple for moose. Nutritional quality is poor, but is important to wintering moose because of its sheer abundance. Although white-tailed deer consider Birch a "secondary-choice food", it is an important dietary component. In Minnesota, white-tailed deer eat considerable amounts of paper birch leaves in the fall. Snowshoe hare browse paper birch seedlings, porcupines feed on the inner bark and shrews eat the seeds.

Paper Birch

Animal use

See also