Paper Birch

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Paper Birch

Betula papyrifera (Paper Birch, also known as American White Birch and Canoe Birch) is a species of birch

Birch

Birch is the name of any tree of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae....
native to northern North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
.

s a medium-sized deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe....
tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
reaching 20 m tall (exceptionally to 35 m) with a trunk up to 80 cm diameter. The bark

BARK

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Encyclopedia

Betula papyrifera (Paper Birch, also known as American White Birch and Canoe Birch) is a species of birch

Birch

Birch is the name of any tree of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae....
native to northern North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
.

Description

It is a medium-sized deciduous

Deciduous

TREE

BARK

BARK was an early Electromechanics. BARK was built using standard phone relays, implementing a 32-bit binary machine and could perform addition in 150 ms and multiplication in 250 ms....
is white, commonly brightly so, flaking in fine horizontal strips, and often with small black marks and scars. In individuals younger than five years, the bark appears brown with white lenticels, making the tree much harder to distinguish from other trees. The leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
are alternate, ovate, 5–12 cm long and 4–9 cm broad, with a doubly serrate margin. The leaf buds are conical and small. They are green-colored with brown edges. The flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s are wind-pollinated catkin

Catkin

A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollination but sometimes insect pollinated ....
s 3–8 cm long growing from the tips of twigs. The fruit

Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
matures in the fall. The mature fruit is composed of numerous tiny winged seed

Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s packed between the catkin bracts. They drop between September and spring.

Distribution

Betula papyrifera has a wide range. It is found in interior (var. humilus) and southcentral (var. kenaica) Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest U.S. state of the United States by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait....
and in all provinces and territories

Provinces and territories of Canada

The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the List of countries and outlying territories by total area. The major difference between a Canada province and a territory is that a province receives its power and authority directly from the Monarchy in Canada, via the Constitution Act, 1867, whereas territories derive their manda...
of Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, except Nunavut

Nunavut

Nunavut is the largest and newest Provinces and territories of Canada of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999 via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993....
, as well as the northern continental United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, south to Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a U.S. state located in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States....
and Washington

Washington

Washington is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute....
, with small isolated populations further south in mountain

Mountain

A mountain is a landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is generally steeper than a hill....
s to North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north....
and Colorado

Colorado

The State of Colorado is a U.S. state located in the Mountain States of the United States of America. Colorado may also be considered to be a part of the Western United States and Southwestern United States regions of the United States....
. The most southerly stand in the Western United States is located in Lost Gulch in the City of Boulder Mountain Parks, an isolated Pleistocene relict that most likely reflects the southern reach of boreal vegetation into the area during the last Ice Ages.

Ecology

Betula papyrifera is a pioneer species

Pioneer species

Pioneer species are species which colonize previously uncolonized land, usually leading to ecological succession. Since uncolonized land usually has thin, poor quality soils with few nutrients, pioneer species are typically very hearty plants with adaptations such as long roots,...
; for example, it is frequently an early invader after fire in Black Spruce

Black Spruce

Picea mariana is a species of spruce native to northern North America, from Newfoundland west to Alaska, and south to northern New York, Minnesota and central British Columbia....
Boreal forests. B. papyrifera requires high nutrients and sun exposure. The bark is highly weather-resistant. Often, the wood of a downed paper birch will rot away leaving the hollow bark intact. Birch bark is a winter staple food for moose

Moose

File:Alces alces NA.svgThe moose or elk , , is the largest Extant taxon species in the deer family . Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a "twig-like" configuration....
. The nutritional quality is poor, but is important to wintering moose because of its sheer abundance. Although white-tailed deer

White-tailed Deer

File:Wtdfishwild.jpgThe white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer, or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to all but five states in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and northern portions of South America as far south as Peru....
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

Snowshoe Hare

The Snowshoe Hare , also called the Varying Hare, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet and the marks its tail leaves....
s browse paper birch seedlings, porcupine

Porcupine

Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp Spine , or quills, that defend them from predators. They are endemic in both the Old World and the New World....
s feed on the inner bark and mice

Mouse

A mouse is a small animal that belongs to one of numerous species of rodents. The best known mouse species is the House Mouse . It is also a popular pet....
eat the seeds. The leaves of the Paper Birch serve as food for various Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
. See List of Lepidoptera that feed on birches.

Conservation

It is considered vulnerable

Vulnerable species

A vulnerable species is a species which is likely to become Endangered species unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve....
in Indiana

Indiana

The State of Indiana was the 19th U.S. state admitted into the union. It is located in the Midwestern United States of the United States of America....
, imperiled

Conservation status (TNC)

The NatureServe conservation status system was developed by NatureServe, The Nature Conservancy and the Natural Heritage Network as a ranking of the relative imperilment of species on global, national and/or regional levels....
in Illinois

Illinois

The State of Illinois is a U.S. state of the United States, the 21st to be admitted to the United States. Illinois is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern United States state and the fifth most populous state in the nation....
, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
, West Virginia

West Virginia

West Virginia is a U.S. state in the Appalachian, Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia on the southeast, Kentucky on the southwest, Ohio on the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland on the northeast....
and Wyoming

Wyoming

The State of Wyoming is a sparsely populated U.S. state in the Northwestern United States of the United States. The majority of the state is dominated by the mountain ranges and rangelands of the Rocky Mountains, while the easternmost section of the state is a high altitude prairie region known as the High Plains ....
, and critically imperiled

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of an organism which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters....
in Colorado

Colorado

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States United States. In 1796, it became the sixteenth state to join the United States....
.

Uses

Betula papyrifera has a soft, yet moderately heavy, white wood. It makes excellent high yielding fire wood if seasoned properly plus the bark is a great fire starter, as it burns at high temperatures even when wet, making it very useful if stranded in the woods. It is acceptable for furniture parts, floors, and Oriented Strand Board

Oriented strand board

Oriented strand board, or OSB, or waferboard, or Sterling board or SmartPly is an engineered wood product formed by layering strands of wood in specific orientations....
. It does not have a very high economic value. The sap can be used to produce birch syrup

Birch syrup

Birch syrup is a sweetener made from the sap of birch trees, and used in much the same way as maple syrup. It is used for pancake or waffle syrup, to make candies, as an ingredient in sauces, glazes, and dressings, and as a flavoring in ice cream, beer, wine, and soft drinks....
. Its name reflects the use of the tree's bark, primarily by Native Americans

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples....
, for a writing material and also that the waterproof bark was used for the outer covering of canoe

Canoe

A canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes usually are pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be covered....
s. In the construction of sod-roofed houses, the bark is used to create a durable waterproof layer.

Culture

Betula papyrifera is the Provincial tree of Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie provinces in Canada, which has an area of 588,276.09 square kilometres and a population of 1,015,895 , mostly living in the southern half of the province....
and the State tree

List of U.S. state trees

This List of U.S. state trees includes official trees of the following U.S. state and U.S. possessions:...
of New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a U.S. state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States of America. The state was named after the southern English Counties of England of Hampshire....
.

External links

(best picture of young bark)
(most detailed data)
(concise outline details)