Betula pubescens
Downy birch
How do you recognise downy birch?
The leaf is ovate with a short tip, and its edge is usually singly serrated. The current year’s shoots are softly hairy and feel smooth, since there are no resin warts. The tree stays smaller than silver birch at 8–20 metres, and its branches do not droop.
What is it confused with?
Silver birch has triangular, long-tipped, doubly serrated leaves. Its shoots are hairless but rough with resin warts, and the branch tips hang down.
Where does downy birch grow, and when does it flower?
Downy birch tolerates wet ground and grows on bogs, in spruce mires, and near shores where silver birch cannot cope. The catkins open in May as the leaves emerge.
Can you collect it for a herbarium?
Downy birch is very common, and a single leafy twig tip is enough for a herbarium. On the label: Note which birch it is, downy or silver, because they are two different species.
Did you know?
Its root system works in waterlogged soil, and that is what makes it the birch of bogs and mires. The two birches hybridise, so intermediate trees are common.
Where does downy birch grow in Finland?
The map shows where the species has been recorded. Darker squares mean more observations.
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Observations: GBIF · Map: CARTO, OpenStreetMap
Sources: fi.wikipedia.org
Identify plants with your phone
Linnea identifies a plant from a photo and tells you its name and its story. Every find takes its own numbered place in your herbarium, with the day and the town where you found it.
