Family: Betulaceae, Birch view all from this family

Description Small, bushy tree with open, conical crown of short slender branches reaching nearly to the ground; more often a clump of several slightly leaning trunks from an old stump.
Height: 30' (9 m).
Diameter: 1' (0.3 m).
Leaves: 2-3" (5-7.5 cm) long, 1 1/2-2 1/2" (4-6 cm) wide. Triangular, tapering from near base to long-pointed tip; sharply and doubly saw-toothed; usually with 4-8 veins on each side; leafstalks slender, with black gland-dots. Shiny dark green above, paler with tufts of hairs along midvein beneath; turning pale yellow in autumn.
Bark: chalky or grayish-white; smooth, thin, not papery; becoming darker and fissured at base.
Twigs: reddish-brown, slender, with warty gland-dots.
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 1/4" (2-3 cm) long; cylindrical, brownish, spreading, short-stalked; with many hairy scales and hairy 2-winged nutlets; maturing in autumn.

Habitat Dry barren uplands, also on moist soils, in mixed woodlands.

Range S. Ontario east to Cape Breton Island, south to Pennsylvania and New Jersey; local to W. North Carolina and NW. Indiana; to 2000' (610 m).

Discussion A pioneer tree on clearings, abandoned farms, and burned areas, Gray Birch grows rapidly but is short-lived. A nurse tree, it shades and protects seedlings of the larger, long-lived forest trees. The wood is used for spools and other turned articles and for firewood. Its trunks are so flexible that when weighted with snow, the upper branches may bend to the ground without breaking. The long-stalked leaves dance in the slightest breeze.