Alternate name: Black Birch, Cherry Birch

Family: Betulaceae, Birch view all from this family

Description Aromatic tree with rounded crown of spreading branches and odor of wintergreen in crushed twigs and foliage.
Height: 50-80' (15-24 m).
Diameter: 1-2 1/2' (0.3-08. m).
Leaves: 2 1/2-5" (6-13 cm) long, 1 1/2-3" (4-7.5 cm) wide. Elliptical, long-pointed, often notched at base; sharply and doubly saw-toothed; mostly with 9-11 veins on each side; becoming nearly hairless. Dull dark green above, light yellow-green beneath; turning bright yellow in autumn.
Bark: shiny, dark brown or blackish, smooth but not papery; on large trunks fissured into scaly plates like Black Cherry.
Twigs: dark brown, slender, hairless.
Flowers: tiny; in early spring. Male yellowish, with 2 stamens, many in long drooping catkins near tip of twigs. Female greenish, in short upright catkins back of tip of same twig.
Cones: 3/4-1 1/2" (2-4 cm) long; oblong, brownish, upright, nearly stalkless; with hairless scales and many 2-winged nutlets; maturing in autumn.

Habitat Cool, moist uplands; with hardwoods and conifers.

Range S. Maine southwest to N. Alabama and north to Ohio; local in extreme S. Quebec and SE. Ontario; nearly to sea level in north; at 2000-6000' (610-1829 m) in southern Appalachians.

Discussion Birch oil, or oil of wintergreen, used to flavor medicines and candy, was once obtained from the bark and wood of young trees. That wasteful process has been replaced by the manufacture of the same oil from wood alcohol and salicylic acid. The trees can be tapped like Sugar Maples in early spring and the fermented sap made into birch beer.