Silver Birch

Silver birch (Betula pendula) is a widespread European tree, though in southern Europe it is only found at higher altitudes. Its range extends into eastern north Asia.

It is often planted as a garden and ornamental tree. In Scandinavia and other regions of northern Europe, it is grown for forestry. It is sometimes used as a pioneer and nurse tree elsewhere.

It is distinguished from the closely related White birch (B. pubescens) in having hairless, warty shoots (downy, without warts in White birch), and whiter bark often with scattered black fissures (greyer, less fissured, in White birch). It is also distinguished cytologically, Silver birch being diploid (with two sets of chromosomes), whereas White birch is tetraploid (four sets of chromosomes). The two have subtle differences in habitat requirements, with Silver birch found mainly on dry, sandy soils, and White birch commoner on wet, poorly drained sites such as clay soils and peat bogs. Many North American texts treat the two species as conspecific (and cause confusion by combining the English name 'White birch' with the Latin name B. pendula), but they are universally regarded as distinct species throughout Europe.

See also birch and birch classification.