Tree Flowers: October 2017: Silver Birch

There are a lot of birches around, but I think this is a fairly young silver birch (Betula pendula). Young because the trunk hasn't yet developed the cracks that either (to my mind) either look wonderful, or make the tree look awful.

When I first got into bushcraft, this was the most interesting tree to me. Strands of trunk can be peeled off for tinder, without harming the tree. Around March the trunk can be tapped for sap, which can be used for wine or birch beer (although I've never made these). Also, it stands well when dead, making a good tree for harvesting when it came time to make a fire for cooking.

Being monoecious, both male and female flowers adorn the same individual. The catkins are present between April and May, with the green females are erect to collect pollen that blows in the wind. The male catkins are longer and hang in groups ready for gusts of wind to take the pollen from them.

Male and female catkins.

A closer look at a male catkin.

The wood of the silver birch is often used for internal joinery. With the tree itself providing food and shelter to many invertebrates and a few fungi, including the iconic fly agaric. Although they only survive for around 80 years, this is one of those poineer species that are the first to grow in barren areas, making the area more attractive to other species that can often take over the area as the birch reaches the end of its life.

There are many, many cultivars of the silver birch. Some with purpleish leaves, 'Purpurea'; some with deeply cut leaves, 'Dalecarlica'; and some with grow at columns, while others have a weeping growth. There is surely a silver birch for every garden!