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Summary
Duration	Perennial
Growth Habit	Tree
U.S. Nativity	Native to U.S.
Federal T/E Status
National Wetland Indicator	FACU+, FAC
Morphology/Physiology
Active Growth Period	Spring and Summer
After Harvest Regrowth Rate
Bloat	None
C:N Ratio	High
Coppice Potential	No
Fall Conspicuous	No
Fire Resistant	No
Flower Color	Yellow
Flower Conspicuous	No
Foliage Color	Green
Foliage Porosity Summer	Dense
Foliage Porosity Winter	Porous
Foliage Texture	Medium
Fruit/Seed Color	Brown
Fruit/Seed Conspicuous	No
Growth Form	Single Stem
Growth Rate	Rapid
Height at 20 Years, Maximum (feet)	25
Height, Mature (feet)	100
Known Allelopath	No
Leaf Retention	No
Lifespan	Long
Low Growing Grass	No
Nitrogen Fixation
Resprout Ability	Yes
Shape and Orientation	Erect
Toxicity	None
Growth Requirements
Adapted to Coarse Textured Soils	Yes
Adapted to Fine Textured Soils	Yes
Adapted to Medium Textured Soils	Yes
Anaerobic Tolerance	Low
CaCO3 Tolerance	Low
Cold Stratification Required	No
Drought Tolerance	Medium
Fertility Requirement	Medium
Fire Tolerance	Low
Frost Free Days, Minimum	90
Hedge Tolerance	Medium
Moisture Use	Medium
pH, Minimum	4.6
pH, Maximum	6.9
Planting Density per Acre, Minimum	300
Planting Density per Acre, Maximum	700
Precipitation, Minimum	35
Precipitation, Maximum	55
Root Depth, Minimum (inches)	30
Salinity Tolerance	Medium
Shade Tolerance	Intermediate
Temperature, Minimum (°F)	-38
Reproduction
Bloom Period	Late Spring
Commercial Availability	Field Collections Only
Fruit/Seed Abundance	Medium
Fruit/Seed Period Begin	Summer
Fruit/Seed Period End	Summer
Fruit/Seed Persistence	Yes
Propagated by Bare Root	Yes
Propagated by Bulb	No
Propagated by Container	Yes
Propagated by Corm	No
Propagated by Cuttings	No
Propagated by Seed	Yes
Propagated by Sod	No
Propagated by Sprigs	No
Propagated by Tubers	No
Seed per Pound	446400
Seed Spread Rate	Moderate
Seedling Vigor	Medium
Small Grain	No
Vegetative Spread Rate	None
Suitability/Use
Berry/Nut/Seed Product	No
Christmas Tree Product	No
Fodder Product	No
Fuelwood Product	High
Lumber Product	Yes
Naval Store Product	No
Nursery Stock Product	No
Palatable Browse Animal	Medium
Palatable Graze Animal	Low
Palatable Human	No
Post Product	No
Protein Potential
Pulpwood Product	No
Veneer Product	Yes

 

Kingdom  Plantae -- Plants

Subkingdom  Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants

Superdivision  Spermatophyta -- Seed plants

Division  Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants

Class  Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons

Subclass  Hamamelididae

Order  Fagales

Family  Betulaceae -- Birch family

Genus  Betula L. -- birch P

Species  Betula alleghaniensis Britt. -- yellow birch P

 

Alternate common names

Gray birch, silver birch, swamp birch

 

Uses

The wood of yellow birch is heavy, strong, close-grained, even-textured, and shows a wide color variation, from reddish brown to creamy white.  It is used for furniture, cabinetry, charcoal, pulp, interior finish, veneer, tool handles, boxes, woodenware, and interior doors.  The wood can be stained and takes a high polish.  Yellow birch is one of the principal hardwoods used in the distillation of wood alcohol, acetate of lime, charcoal, tar, and oils. 

 

Deer consume large numbers of yellow birch seedlings in summer and prefer green leaves and woody stems in fall.  Moose, white-tailed deer, and snowshoe hare also browse yellow birch.  The seeds are eaten by various songbird species, and ruffed grouse feed on seeds, catkins, and buds.  Red squirrel cut and store mature catkins and eat the seeds.  Beaver and porcupine chew the bark. 

 

The sap of yellow birch can be tapped for use as edible syrup.  Tea is sometimes made from the twigs and/or inner bark.

 

Yellow birch sees limited use in landscape plantings, partly because it may be relatively hard to locate at local nurseries. It is a good lawn tree, providing relatively light shade, and it has showy bark and fall foliage colors.  It also is a good edge tree for naturalized areas.  Although yellow birch grows best in full sun, cherry birch is better suited to hotter or drier sites. 

 

Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status, such as, state noxious status and wetland indicator values.

 

Description

General: Birch Family (Betulaceae).  These are native trees mostly 15-20(-30) m tall, with straight trunks and variable crowns; mature bark smooth and shiny, usually separating into thin layers, giving a shaggy appearance; lenticels dark, horizontally; twigs with odor and taste of wintergreen, usually with small resinous glands.  Leaves are deciduous, alternate, simple, narrowly ovate to broadly oblong, 6-10 cm long, base rounded to cuneate or cordate, margins sharply doubly toothed, apex acuminate, usually softly hairy beneath along major veins and in vein axils, often with scattered, minute, resinous glands.  Male (pollen) and female (seed) flowers are in catkins, borne separately, but on the same tree.  Seed catkins are erect, ovoid, 1.5-3 cm long, generally remaining intact after release of fruits in late fall, scales 3-lobed, sparsely to moderately hairy; pollen catkins elongate and hanging.  Seeds (nutlets) have wings narrower than body.  The common name pertains to the yellow color of the bark and fall leaves.  

 

Variation within the species.  Two varieties have been recognized (see Fernald 1950; Braun 1961); var. macrolepis differs from typical variety alleghaniensis in its larger fruiting catkin scales (8-13 mm long vs. 5-8 mm), with more elongated basal portion.  Erdmann (1990) and Furlow (1993) regard the species as variable but without formally recognized varieties. 

 

Yellow birch is closely similar to cherry birch (Betula lenta).  Cherry birch differs in its light grayish brown bark that remains close (vs. dark, freely exfoliating bark), leaves with fine, sharp teeth (vs. coarse teeth), and catkin scales without hairs (vs. hairy scales).  The twigs and inner bark of cherry birch have a stronger wintergreen odor.  Yellow birch forms natural hybrids with paper birch (B. papyrifera) and with bog birch (B. pumila). 

 

Distribution

Yellow birch ranges from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Anticosti Island west through southern Ontario to extreme southeastern Manitoba; south to Minnesota and northeastern Iowa; east to northern Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania to northern New Jersey and New England; and south in the Appalachian Mountains to eastern Tennessee and northeastern Georgia.  For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

 

Establishment

Adaptation: Yellow birch is a characteristic tree of the northern Appalachians and the hemlock hardwoods forest of the Great Lakes region, at elevations of mostly 0-500 meters but up to 1050 meters.  In the Appalachians and the Adirondacks, yellow birch reaches its maximum importance in the transition zone between low elevation deciduous forest and montane spruce-fir forests.  Yellow birch occurs on moist, well-drained soils of various types of uplands and mountain ravines and along stream banks and in swampy woods.  It may also grow where drainage is restricted, but growth may be correspondingly poor.  Flowering: April-May, beginning before leafing; fruiting: July-August. 

 

General: Yellow birch reproduces primarily by seed, normally first at about 40 years but optimally at about 70 years – trees under 20 years sometimes produce seed.  Good seed crops are produced at intervals of 1-4 years, usually with little seed produced in intervening years.  Viability under natural conditions decreases around the second year. 

 

Seeds germinate and grow best on moist mineral soil enriched with humus, but those in undisturbed stands usually germinate on mossy logs, decayed wood, in cracks in boulders, and on wind thrown tree hummocks.  Seedlings cannot pierce compacted hardwood litter.  Scarification of seedbeds improves seedling establishment, but organic matter should be left mixed in with the mineral soil.  Seed dormancy is broken (under artificial conditions) by stratification or by exposure of wet seed to cool-white fluorescent light.  Seeds can be stored 2-4 years or longer without losing viability. 

 

Gap conditions are conducive to yellow birch seedling establishment, and seedling survival is better on disturbed microsites.  Mortality of seedlings is usually very high.  Seedlings surviving their first year survive to sapling and larger stages only where there is sufficient light, although some shade improves seedling survival. 

 

Yellow birch has been termed “a persistent successional species.”  Its presence in mid- to late-successional stands depends on local disturbance; it cannot reproduce under a closed canopy and requires soil disturbance and light for seedling survival.  Older trees do not sprout.  In northern hardwood ecosystems, yellow birch reaches maximum importance levels within 15 years of disturbance, and those levels are maintained for at least 100 years.  In many old-growth stands, yellow birch usually decreases in importance as the stand ages, but the species is often a component of old growth types and sometimes occurs as a major component of climax stands, perhaps through a combination of longevity and micro-succession.  Yellow birch often reaches 150 years; the average age in old growth woods may be 200-250 years.  Maximum age is over 300 years. 

 

Management

Heavy or repeated browsing of yellow birch by deer and moose kills small yellow birch and may prevent regeneration.  Heavy feeding by porcupine and yellow-bellied sapsucker reduces growth, lowers wood quality, and is sometimes fatal.  

 

Heavy cuts in older stands may be followed by top dieback and mortality.  Recently isolated trees, in particular, are subject to wind throw on shallow soils and susceptible to winter sunscald.  All are sensitive to high soil temperatures.  Harvest of yellow birch timber should coincide with good seed years, because the trees regenerate primarily by germination, and openings for regeneration should be provided. 

 

Yellow birch can be grown from seed relatively easily.  Artificial propagation can be done through greenwood cuttings and by grafting.

 

Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

The species may be hard to locate in local nurseries, but it can be ordered.

 

Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil Conservation Service) office for more information.  Look in the phone book under ”United States Government”.  The Natural Resources Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading “Department of Agriculture.”

 

References

Braun, E.L. 1961.  The woody plants of Ohio.  Ohio State Univ. Press, Columbus, Ohio.

 

Erdmann, G.G. 1990.  Betula alleghaniensis Britton.  Yellow Birch.  Pp. 133-147, IN: R.M. Burns and B.H. Honkala (tech. coords.).  Silvics of North America. Volume 2.  Hardwoods.  USDA, Forest Service Agric. Handbook 654, Washington, D.C.  <https://willow.ncfes.umn.edu/silvics_manual/Table_of_contents.htm>

 

Fernald, M.L. 1950.  Gray’s manual of botany (ed. 8).  American Book Company.

 

Furlow, J.J. 1993.  Betula.  Pp. 516-530, IN:  Flora of North America, north of Mexico.  Vol. 3.  Oxford Univ. Press, New York, New York.  <https://hua.huh.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/Flora/flora.pl?FLORA_ID=12395>

 

Sullivan, J. 1994.  Betula alleghaniensis.  IN: W.C. Fischer (compiler).  The fire effects information system [database].  USDA, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, Montana.  <https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/>.

 

Prepared By

Guy Nesom

BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

 

Species Coordinator

Lincoln Moore

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

 

Edited: 17jan01 jsp;10feb03ahv; 31may06 jsp

 

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS Web site<https://plants.usda.gov> or the Plant Materials Program Web site <https://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov>

 

 

Attribution:  U.S. Department of Agriculture