Species: Silver Birch (Betula pendula)
Family: Birches and Alders (BETULACEAE)
Category: Flowering Plants
Location: NW
A. Flowering Plants
More extensive information on flowering plants can be found in a separate blog post.
B. Birches and Alders (BETULACEAE)
This is a family of nut-bearing trees and shrubs, largely found in temperate regions.
C. Silver Birch (Betula pendula)
Like the poplars birch is unusually fast growing for a hardwood tree. The yellowish catkins of this native tree appear in April. Its twigs are used for besoms, and the wood for brush and broom handles. Decorative wood burners practise on birch before progressing to sycamore. The hard, tough and flexible wood is used for interior woodwork, for wheels, and for fuel. Birch bark is traditionally used in tanning, and was made into canoes by native Americans.
The sap of birch makes a delicious, if rather sweet, white wine. Drill a one inch hole into a mature tree and suspend a container underneath to catch the sap. Birch leaf tea is used for gout, rheumatism and dropsy, and to dissolve kidney stones. Birch oil is good for skin complaints.
Images
Silver Birch
Like the poplars, Silver Birch is unusually fast growing for a hardwood tree.
Silver Birch
The yellowish catkins of this native tree appear in April.
Silver Birch
Birch bark is traditionally used in tanning, and was made into canoes by native Americans.
Silver Birch
Birch leaf tea is used for gout, rheumatism and dropsy, and to dissolve kidney stones.
Silver Birch
Decorative wood burners practise on Birch before progressing to Sycamore.
Silver Birch
The sap of birch makes a delicious, if rather sweet, white wine.
