Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Fagales > Betulaceae > Betula > Betula lenta

Betula lenta (sweet birch)

Synonyms: Betula lenta lenta; Betula lenta var. genuina

Wikipedia Abstract

Betula lenta (sweet birch, also known as black birch, cherry birch, mahogany birch, or spice birch) is a species of birch native to eastern North America, from southern Maine west to southernmost Ontario, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia.
View Wikipedia Record: Betula lenta

Infraspecies

Betula lenta f. lenta
Betula lenta f. uber (Virginia roundleaf birch) (Attributes)
Betula lenta var. lenta
Betula lenta var. rubra

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  Low
Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-High
Carbon Capture [1]  Medium
Shade Percentage [1]  82 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  Medium-High
Wind Reduction [1]  Medium-Low
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [2]  Monoecious
Hazards [2]  The essential oil obtained from the bark contains 97 - 99% methyl salicylate. This is very toxic when taken orally, and it can also be absorbed through the skin, resulting in human fatalities. As little as 4, 700 mg can be fatal in children;
Janka Hardness [3]  1470 lbf (667 kgf) Medium
Leaf Type [2]  Deciduous
Pollinators [2]  Wind
Scent [2]  The bruised foliage has a strong smell of wintergreen.
Specific Gravity [4]  0.65
Structure [2]  Tree
Usage [2]  An essential oil is obtained from the bark and twigs, it is distilled in quantity and is an item of commerce; It can be used medicinally, as a food flavouring, as an ingredient in cosmetic shampoos and also to make a wholesome tea; The oil, when decolourized, is similar to 'Oil of Wintergreen' (obtained from Gaultheria procumbens) and is considered to be of superior quality; The tree is coppiced every 5 years and all parts are distilled for the oil; The tree grows up to 3 metres tall in this 5 year period; The greatest yield of oil is obtained if the tree is harvested in the summer; The oil distilled from the wood is insect repellent;l The bark contains up to 16% tannin; The thin outer bark is waterproof and has been used as the outer cladding on dwellings, canoes etc; It has also been used to make baskets, dishes, buckets etc; Wood - very strong, close grained, hard, heavy. The wood is richly marked; It makes an excellent fuel;
Height [2]  79 feet (24 m)
Width [1]  32 feet (9.9 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°)
Water Use [1]  High
View Plants For A Future Record : Betula lenta

Protected Areas

Predators

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Actenodes acornis[9]
Agrilus anxius (Bronze birch borer)[9]

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.
♦ 2Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 3Wood Janka Hardness Scale/Chart J W Morlan's Unique Wood Gifts
♦ 4Forest Inventory and Analysis DB version 5.1, May 4, 2013, U.S. Forest Service
♦ 5HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 6Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
♦ 7Neotoma magister, Steven B. Castleberry, Michael T. Mengak, and W. Mark Ford, MAMMALIAN SPECIES No. 789, pp. 1-5 (2006)
♦ 8"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
♦ 9Jorrit 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.
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