Betula pendula

Roth

Tent. Fl. Germ. 1: 405. 1788.

Common names: Weeping birch European white birch silver birch bouleau pleureur
Synonyms: Betula verrucosa Ehrhart
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 3.

Trees, to 25 m; trunks usually several, crowns spreading. Bark of mature trunks and branches creamy to silvery white, smooth, exfoliating as long strands; lenticels dark, horizontally expanded. Branches pendulous; twigs glabrous, usually dotted with small resinous glands. Leaf-blade broadly ovate to rhombic with 5–18 pairs of lateral-veins, 3–7 × 2.5–5 cm, base cuneate, rarely truncate, margins coarsely and sharply doubly serrate, apex acuminate; surfaces abaxially glabrous to sparsely pubescent, covered with minute, resinous glands. Infructescences erect to nearly pendulous, cylindric, 2–3.5 × 0.6–1 cm, shattering with fruits in fall; scales adaxially sparsely pubescent, lobes diverging at middle, central lobe obtuse, much shorter than lateral lobes, lateral lobes broad, rounded, extended. Samaras with wings much broader than body, broadest near center, extended beyond body apically. 2n = 28, 56.


Phenology: Flowering late spring.
Habitat: Abandoned plantings, roadsides, edges of bogs, waste places
Elevation: 0–350 m

Distribution

V3 484-distribution-map.gif

B.C., Man., Ont., Conn., Mass., N.H., N.Y., Ohio, Pa., Vt., Wash., Europe, Asia

Discussion

The Eurasian weeping birch (Betula pendula) is extensively cultivated throughout the temperate range of the flora, and it has been known to persist or to become locally naturalized in several areas, particularly in the Northeast. In vegetative features it resembles B. populifolia Marshall, to which it is closely allied; it can easily be distinguished from the latter by its peeling bark, as well as by its mostly pubescent leaves with somewhat shorter, acuminate apices.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"broad" is not a number."broadest" is not a number. "much broader" is not a number.

... more about "Betula pendula"
acuminate +
John J. Furlow +
tanniferous +  and furrowed +
creamy +  and silvery white +
exfoliating +
cuneate +
2 +  and 3 +
terete +
slender +
staminate +  and pistillate +
solitary +  and in small racemose clusters +
ovoid +  and cylindric +
expanding +
Weeping birch +, European white birch +, silver birch +  and bouleau pleureur +
multibracteate +
B.C. +, Man. +, Ont. +, Conn. +, Mass. +, N.H. +, N.Y. +, Ohio +, Pa. +, Vt. +, Wash. +, Europe +  and Asia +
0–350 m +
pistillate +  and staminate +
expanding +
minute +  and small +
Abandoned plantings, roadsides, edges of bogs, waste places +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br />) +
erect;nearly pendulous +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br />) +
0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
membranaceous +
10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br /> (14 cm140 mm <br />0.14 m <br />) +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (7 cm70 mm <br />0.07 m <br />) +
broadly ovate;rhombic +
not obvious +  and defined +
membranaceous +
Flowering late spring. +
2(-3)-carpellate +
Tent. Fl. Germ. +
1-seeded +  and 2-winged +
extended +
crowded +  and imbricate +
deciduous +
(1-)3-lobed +
expanding +
not woody +  and leathery +
thicker +  and thin +
2 +  and 3 +
nearly +  and distinct +
abaxially glabrous;sparsely pubescent +
Betula verrucosa +
Betula pendula +
species +
excurrent +  and branching +
differentiated +
much broader +
tanniferous +
light +, nearly white +  and reddish-brown +
soft +  and hard +