BEAUTIFUL BIRCH BARK

      Five kinds of birch tree species in northeastern North America include black, yellow, gray, paper and river birches.  The beautiful bark of these birches is most noticeable and enjoyable in winter when the trees are devoid of foliage.  

     Being related, these birches have several traits in common, other than attractive bark.  They are all trees on the small side.  Male and female flowers are on each tree in all these species, and open in spring.  Male blooms, (catkins) dangle two to three inches from twigs and sway gracefully in the wind that also disperses their pollen to female blossoms.  Female flowers are upright and one inch tall.  And each female bloom, when pollinated, produces a stack of tiny, two-winged seeds that blow away on the wind.  

     Each type of birch tree has its own niche, which spreads the species, and almost eliminates competition for space in the sun.  Black birches, for example, are adapted to living in rocky, upland woods where ruffed grouse and gray foxes roam.  Black birch bark is dark with many horizontal lenticels.  Some people sniff, or chew, on the twigs of black birches to enjoy the wintergreen flavor of their twigs.   

     Yellow birch trees have pale-yellow bark that has several tight curls on the bark of trunks and limbs.  This easily identified species is adapted to wooded bottomlands along clear streams where trout hide along streambanks, the soil is usually moist and temperatures are cool in shaded woods.    

     Gray birches have grayish-white bark with dark triangles below where each branch emerges from the trunk.  Gray birches are pioneer trees, being one of the first kind of trees to colonize coalmine waste, burnt or timbered-off land, abandoned fields, and roadside shoulders in woodlands.  

     Paper birches dwell in more northern forests.  They have thin, white bark that peels off easily in paper-like layers.  The bark of this kind of birch is so attractive that this species is often planted on lawns, or allowed to grow where houses are built in woodlands.  

     River birch trunks and boughs are covered with loose srips of curled, pale-orange to yellow bark, making those trees appealing in a rustic way.  This species inhabits bottomlands along creeks and rivers, but is often planted because of its lovely, shaggy bark. 

     Mice and a variety of sparrows and finches consume the small seeds of these birches.  These trees' roots help hold down soil in heavy rain.  Green chlorophyll in their leaves releases oxygen into the air as a waste gas.  Deer, rabbits, beavers and mice ingest the twigs and soft bark of birches.  And ruffed grouse eat the buds of birches during winter when food is scarce.         

     Birches have lovely bark and catkins, and benefit wildlife and the environment.  For those reasons, some species are readily planted on lawns.