
This week on Know Your Trees, GM is visiting with one of the more peculiar species of trees: the birch.
Birches are almost immediately identified by their distinctive barks. The exhibit the classic “peeling paper” look, although the look differs slightly between species.
The first GM will discuss is the river birch. The bark of the river birch is extremely curled and peeled. An example of a mature river birch bark is seen above.
The often grow with two or three main trunks. At maturity they can grow as tall as 80 feet, although even at that large size the trunks will still typically only be a foot or two in diameter.
The leaves of a river birch are medium sized ovals with slightly serrated edges, like this:

River birches are native to the south, and can tolerate heat fairly well. That is not true for its cousin, the paper birch. Continue reading →
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