Silver Birch
Silver Birch
Betula pendula
Beith gheal

The silver birch is a tall, slender and attractive tree up to 30 metres (100 feet) with silvery white peeling bark. Its delicate branches are gently drooping at their tips. Young shoots are hairless and covered with slightly raised pale green resin-filled glands. The leaves are 2.5 to 7 cm long, oval to somewhat triangular in shape with long points and edged with sharp double teeth. The catkins appear at the same time as the leaves. The male catkins are 30-60 mm long and occur at the ends of the branches while the female ones are 15-35 mm and are produced along the shoots.

Widely planted in gardens, hedges and estate woods, the silver birch is also used as a street tree in Ireland. It appears as a rare native tree in parts of the midlands and south, beside lakes, in scrubby woods, bogs and on sandy soils, and occurs throughout Europe except in the drier and warmer parts of the south.

Deciduous; flowers from April to May.

Information extracted from the Appletree Press title
Appletree Deluxe Editions: Trees and Shrubs
by Peter Wyse-Jackson.