Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Fagales > Betulaceae > Betula > Betula alleghaniensis

Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch, also known as golden birch), is a large and important lumber species of birch native to North-eastern North America. The name "yellow birch" reflects the color of the tree's bark. The name Betula lutea was used expansively for this tree but has now been replaced. Betula alleghaniensis is the provincial tree of Quebec, where it is commonly called merisier, a name which in France is used for the wild cherry.
View Wikipedia Record: Betula alleghaniensis

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  Low
Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-High
Carbon Capture [1]  Medium-High
Screening - Summer [2]  Dense
Screening - Winter [2]  Porous
Shade Percentage [1]  82 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  High
Wind Reduction [1]  Medium
Bloom Period [2]  Late Spring
Drought Tolerance [2]  Medium
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [2]  Low
Flower Type [3]  Monoecious
Frost Free Days [2]  60 days
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  Medium
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Summer
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Summer
Growth Form [2]  Single Stem
Growth Period [2]  Spring, Summer
Growth Rate [2]  Slow
Janka Hardness [4]  1260 lbf (572 kgf) Medium
Leaf Type [3]  Deciduous
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Pollinators [3]  Wind
Propagation [2]  Bare Root, Container, Cutting, Seed
Root Depth [2]  30 inches (76 cm)
Scent [3]  The bruised foliage has a strong smell of wintergreen.
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Moderate
Seed Vigor [2]  Medium
Seeds Per [2]  446399 / lb (984142 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Erect
Specific Gravity [5]  0.62
Structure [3]  Tree
Usage [3]  The bark is waterproof and has been used by native peoples as the outer skin of canoes, as roofing material on dwellings and to make containers such as buckets, baskets and dishes; Wood - close-grained, very strong, hard, heavy. The wood is too dense to float; An important source of hardwood lumber, it is used for furniture, boxes, tubs of wheels, floors etc; It is also often used as a fuel;
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  None
Flower Color [2]  Yellow
Foliage Color [2]  Green
Fruit Color [2]  Brown
Height [3]  39 feet (12 m)
Width [3]  9.84 feet (3 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 3 Low Temperature: -40 F° (-40 C°) → -30 F° (-34.4 C°)
Hardiness Zone Maximum [1]  USDA Zone: 7 Low Temperature: 0 F° (-17.8 C°) → 10 F° (-12.2 C°)
Light Preference [2]  Mixed Sun/Shade
Soil Acidity [2]  Moderate Acid
Soil Fertility [2]  Intermediate
Water Use [1]  High
View Plants For A Future Record : Betula alleghaniensis

Protected Areas

Emblem of

Quebec

Predators

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Agrilus anxius (Bronze birch borer)[8]
Fomes fomentarius (Hoof Fungus)[8]

Range Map

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1i-Tree Species v. 4.0, developed by the USDA Forest Service's Northern Research Station and SUNY-ESF using the Horticopia, Inc. plant database.
♦ 2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
♦ 3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 4Wood Janka Hardness Scale/Chart J W Morlan's Unique Wood Gifts
♦ 5Forest Inventory and Analysis DB version 5.1, May 4, 2013, U.S. Forest Service
♦ 6HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 7Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
♦ 8Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 9"The Feeding Behavior and Diet of an Endemic West Virginia Land Snail, Triodopsis platysayoides", Daniel C. Dourson, American Malacological Bulletin 26(1-2):153-159. 2008
♦ 10Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0