New Hampshire State Tree
Paper Birch (common name) Betula papyrifera (scientific name) Overview Paper birch is easily recognized for its peeling white bark, which actually found historical use as a paper substitute. Alternate common names for the tree are canoe birch, white birch, and silver birch. Paper birch is a fast-growing deciduous tree, generally short-lived, and quick to colonize areas that have been burned or cleared. It is a tree of the north woods, very cold tolerant, with most of its range in the northern United States and in Canada. In addition to being designated the state tree of New Hampshire in 1947, paper birch was adopted as the provincial tree of Saskatchewan in 1988. Close-up STATUS Official PHYSICAL DETAILS This is a medium-sized hardwood tree with peeling bark that is bright white and striped with black zones. Its simple oval leaves are toothed on the margins and alternately arranged, turning bright yellow in fall. Its flowers occur in elongated clusters in early spring. Its fruit is a small cone that releases small, winged seeds. Height: up to 70-80 ft (21-24 m) Diameter: 10-31.5 in (25-80 cm) Bark: young: reddish-brown mature: thin, white, smooth, with dark lines, separates/peels easily Cones: small, brown, 1-3 in (2.5-7.5 cm) long Leaves: oval, green in summer and turning yellow in fall, 2-4 in (5-10 cm) long LIFESPAN Paper birch is short-lived. Height growth ceases at about 60 to 70 years of age, and few trees live more than 140 years. HABITAT Paper birch is a northern species adapted to cold climates. Its range is bounded on the north by areas with average July highs of 55° F (13°C), and in the south, it seldom grows naturally where average July temperatures exceed 70°F (21°C). It grows at the northern limit of tree growth in arctic Canada and Alaska, in boreal spruce woodlands and forests, in mountain and subalpine forests of the west, in the woods of the northern Great Plains, and in coniferous, deciduous, and mixed forests of the northeast and Lake States. IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE Although its nutritional quality is poor in the winter, paper birch is important to wintering moose because of its sheer abundance. Although considered a secondary-choice food, paper birch is an important dietary component of white-tailed deer and beaver. Snowshoe hares browse paper birch seedlings and saplings, and porcupines feed on the inner bark of trees. Paper birch is also eaten by beaver and hare. Numerous birds and small mammals eat paper birch buds, flower clusters, and seeds. Communities of young paper birch trees provide prime cover for deer and moose. Numerous cavity-nesting birds nest in paper birch, including woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, and swallows. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers peck holes in the bark, and hummingbirds and red squirrels then feed at sapwells created by sapsuckers. OTHER USES AND VALUES The bark, which can be peeled in large wide strips, was once valued for construction of canoes, as a fire-starter, and as a medium for messages. Native Americans also made paper birch bark into baskets, storage containers, mats, baby carriers, moose and bird calls, torches, household utensils, and canoes. The strong and flexible wood was made into spears, bows, arrows, snowshoes, sleds, and other items. The hard, close-grained wood continues to be utilized for pulpwood, plywood, and veneer, and for making toothpicks, ice cream sticks, clothespins, spools, and toys. It is easily worked and takes finishes and stains readily. Furniture, cabinets, and numerous specialty items are made from paper birch lumber. Tree chips are used for pulp and paper manufacture, reconstituted uses, and fuel. It is commonly used as fireplace and wood stove fuel. Paper birch's graceful form and attractive bark make it a popular landscape plant. The sap is made into syrup, wine, beer, and medicinal tonics. REPRODUCTION New Hampshire's state tree is a prolific seed producer. Seed production begins at about age 15, with optimum production at 40 to 70 years of age. The small, double-winged seeds are dispersed primarily by wind. Paper birch sprouts following cutting or fire. Sprouts typically arise from the stump base or root collar. Prolific sprouting is common in young trees, with some individuals producing up to 100 sprouts. SITE CHARACTERISTICS This tree grows in climates ranging from boreal to humid, and tolerates wide variations in the amount and pattern of precipitation. Paper birch is shade-intolerant. It is abundant on burned-over and cutover lands, where it often forms pure groupings. Paper birch is most abundant on rolling, upland terrain and in fertile soils rich with sediment, but grows on almost any soil and topographic situation, including rugged mountain slopes, open slopes, rock slides, bogs, and borders of bogs and swamps. It grows best on deep, well-drained to moderately well-drained, sandy or silty soils common on glacial deposits. LOCATION/ELEVATION The most widely distributed of all North American birches, paper birch closely follows the northern limit of tree growth. Its range reaches across Canada and Alaska, south into Washington, northeast Oregon, northern Idaho, and western Montana. There are scattered outliers in the northern Great Plains of Canada, Montana, North Dakota, the Black Hills of South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, and the Front Range of Colorado. Paper birch's range continues east to Minnesota and Iowa, through the Great Lakes region into New England. Paper birch also extends down the Appalachian Mountains from central New York to western North Carolina. In boreal spruce ecosystems, paper birch forms nearly pure, pioneer communities on disturbed sites. TRIVIA At one time, people would peel layers of the thin, paper-like bark and write messages on it, thus the name paper birch. Since stripping bark from living trees leaves permanent, ugly black scars, souvenirs of birch bark should always be taken from a fallen log. In 1791, Thomas Jefferson wrote a few words in a letter to his daughter that are frequently quoted to describe the beauty of Lake George: "Lake George is, without comparison, the most beautiful water I ever saw...its water limpid as crystal and the mountain sides covered with rich groves of thuja, silver fir, white pine, aspen and paper birch down to the water edge, here and there precipices of rock to checker the scene and save it from monotony."
	Click to enlarge an image Paper Birch Paper Birch Leaves Paper Birch Seeds Paper Birch Bark Paper Birch Distribution Map (pdf) CLASSIFICATION Kingdom: Plantae Subkingdom: Tracheobionta Superdivision: Spermatophyta Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Subclass: Hamamelididae Order: Fagales Family: Betulaceae Genus: Betula L. Species: Betula papyrifera
	Sources: U.S. Forest Service U.S. National Arboretum U.S. Department of Agriculture Author: World Trade Press