Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Fagales > Betulaceae > Betula > Betula occidentalis

Betula occidentalis (water birch)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Betula occidentalis (Water Birch, also known as Red Birch) is a species of birch native to western North America, in Canada from Yukon east to western Ontario and southwards, and in the United States from eastern Washington east to western North Dakota, and south to eastern California, northern Arizona and northern New Mexico, and southwestern Alaska. It typically occurs along streams in mountainous regions. The identity of similar birches in eastern Kylie is disputed; some include them in B. occidentalis, while others regard them as hybrids between Betula neoalaskana and Betula glandulosa.
View Wikipedia Record: Betula occidentalis

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-High
Screening - Summer [2]  Moderate
Screening - Winter [2]  Porous
Bloom Period [2]  Mid Spring
Drought Tolerance [2]  Low
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [2]  High
Flower Type [3]  Monoecious
Frost Free Days [2]  4 months 20 days
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  Medium
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Spring
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Spring
Growth Form [2]  Multiple Stem
Growth Period [2]  Spring, Summer
Growth Rate [2]  Rapid
Leaf Type [3]  Deciduous
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Pollinators [3]  Wind
Propagation [2]  Bare Root, Container, Seed
Root Depth [2]  20 inches (51 cm)
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Slow
Seed Vigor [2]  Medium
Seeds Per [2]  401999 / lb (886257 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Erect
Structure [3]  Tree
Usage [3]  An infusion of the plant is used as a hair conditioner and dandruff treatment; The thin outer bark is waterproof and has been used as the cladding on canoes and dwellings, and also to make containers; A brown dye is obtained from the inner bark; Wood - close-grained, soft but strong; Trees do not grow large enough to be of use for lumber, but the wood is used locally for fence posts; The bark can be used as a kindling;
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  None
Flower Color [2]  Yellow
Foliage Color [2]  Green
Fruit Color [2]  Brown
Height [3]  30 feet (9 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [2]  USDA Zone: 0 Low Temperature: -65 F° (-53.9 C°) → -60 F° (-51.1 C°)
Light Preference [2]  Mixed Sun/Shade
Soil Acidity [2]  Neutral
Soil Fertility [2]  Intermediate
Water Use [2]  High
View Plants For A Future Record : Betula occidentalis

Protected Areas

Predators

Range Map

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
4HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
5Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
6Ben-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