River birch - bark
bark peels back to reveal papery layers and multiple colors
River birch - female flowers
female flowers are in upright light green catkins
River birch - male flowers
male flowers hang down in reddish-green catkins
River birch - leaves
leaves are roughly oval with doubly toothed edges

Plant Characteristics:

  • Tree: medium to large sized tree up to 75 ft tall; trunks are often short, dividing into several upright trunks; develops an irregular, oblong crown
  • Bark: young bark is smooth, salmon to cinnamon colored, with multi-layers of loose papery layers giving the bark a rugged appearance; on older trees the bark is thick, deeply furrowed, and reddish-brown
  • Twigs: orange-brown in color thickly covered with pale lenticels and slender in form; smooth or slightly fuzzy
  • Buds: oval, pointed, light chestnut brown, and often slightly hairy
  • Leaves: alternate; simple; oval or triangular with a wedge shaped base and doubly toothed margins, 1½ to 3 in long; pale green below
  • Fall Foliage: yellow
  • Flowers: this species has separate male and female flowers on the same tree; reddish-green male catkins at the end of the twig that hang down; female flowers are in short upright green catkins
  • Fruit type: cone-like, 1 – 1½ in long with hairy scales; reddish brown with multiple 3 winged seeds that release in the fall

Additional Details:

  • The wood is light and hard, used to a minor extent for boxes, toys and turned articles.
  • A valuable tree in the prevention of stream bank erosion and revegetating strip mining sites.
  • Seed consuming wildlife (birds and squirrels) frequently eat the fruit of this tree
  • This tree does not have the smell or taste of wintergreen
  • An attractive ornamental tree.
  • This is the only birch native to the Coastal Plain in the southeastern United States.

A member of the Birch Family, also known as Red, Black or Water Birch.

References:
Brown, R. and M. Brown. 1972. Woody Plants of Maryland. Port City Press, Baltimore, MD.
Foster, S. and J. Duke. 1990. A field guide to medicinal plants of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.
Grimm, W. C. and J. Kartesz. 2002. The Illustrated Book of Trees. Stackpole Books. Mechanicsburg, PA.
Harris, J. and M. Woolf Harris. 1994. Plant Identification Terminology: An illustrated Glossary. Spring Lake Publishing, Spring Lake, UT.
Peterson, L. 1977. A field guide to edible wild plants of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.
Virginia Department of Forestry. 2022. Common Native Trees of Virginia – Tree Identification Guide.
The Wildflower Center Staff. 2023. Plant Database. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. The University of Texas at Austin.