Betula nigra
river birch, red birch, black birch
Family
Betulaceae
Leaf Arrangement
alternate
Leaf Attachment
petiolate
Leaf Margin
entire, biserrate
Leaf Type
simple
Leaf Shape
elliptic, deltoid, ovate, rhombic, rhomboid
Growth Form
tree
Flower Color
brown, green
Flower Month
February - April
Height (meters)
30.0
Milky Sap
No
Armed/Unarmed
Unarmed
Origin
native
Lifespan
perennial
Leaf Retention
Deciduous
Wetland Class
FACW
Field Characters
Medium sized tree with papery, salmon-colored bark and doubly-serrate leaves. Distinctive reddish, tannish, salmon-pink bark with peeling shaggy curling layers; bark of older trunks grayish, scaly, fissured.
Habitat
Low woods, along streams, and in bottomlands.
Plant Uses
The wood is quite hard, and used in the manufacture of furniture and other products where its close-grained properties make it valuable.