Sweet Birch - Betula lenta
Birch Family (Betulaceae)
- Native habitat: Southern Maine to Eastern Ohio, south to Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia. Sweet birch grows at elevations up to 4,000 feet in the Appalachians.
- Growth habit: Upright, pyramidal when young. Becomes rounded with an irregular crown as it matures.
- Tree size: 40 to 55 feet tall; 35 to 45 feet wide in landscape settings. In the wild it may grow to heights of 80 feet.
- Flower and fruit: Sweet birch is monoecious. Pendulous male catkins are 3 to 4 inches long when they mature in spring and have red-brown scales with sharp tips. Female catkins are only 3/4 of an inch long, upright, with light green scales, round tips and pink styles. Flowers appear before leaves in April. Fruit is a winged nutlet in a 3/4- to 1 1/3-inch-long, 3/5-inch-wide strobile.
- Leaf: Simple, alternate, 2 1/2 to 6 inches long and 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches wide. Glossy green leaves turn yellow in fall.
- Hardiness: Winter hardy to USDA Zone 3.
The wood of sweet birch is medium heavy, medium hard and dark brown with a little red. Sapwood is light brown or yellow. The wood, which tends to warp, slowly gets darker after it is exposed to air. Over time, furniture made from sweet birch looks like mahogany, and its wood is stronger than mahogany and black cherry. It takes about 150 years for sweet birch to reach a size that appeals to loggers.