Paper Birch

Here's one of the younger paper birches in the cemetery. Betula papyrifera usually has several stems and can have either a conical or an irregular crown. This specimen has a single stem with branches starting low on the trunk.

The white bark peels in papery sheets. At first the bark underneath is orange, but it whitens with time. Harriet Keeler, in Our Native Trees, says that the paper birch "possesses the most wonderful bark of any of our native trees." Personally, I would make an argument for beech bark, but paper birch bark comes in a close second. Although it's papery, it's quite strong. Native Americans used it to make canoes. It can also be written and painted on.

This accumulation of exfoliated bark looks like burnt newspaper.

The long horizontal lenticels in the bark allow for the exchange of gases.

Here are the pre-formed male catkins. The female catkins will emerge in the spring as the male catkins elongate. If you click on the photo, you can see that twigs are reddish-brown and dotted with small lenticels.

Turkish Filbert

The Turkish filbert, or Turkish hazel, (Corylus colurna) is in the Birch family. All members of the family have male and female catkins on the same tree. Here are the filbert's male catkins. They will hang on all winter and mature in the spring.

The leaves are cordate at the base and have double-serrate margins.

The corky outer bark is grey, but when it exfoliates, reveals reddish-brown inner bark.

The tree has a pyramidal form with most limbs perpendicular to the trunk.

The nuts are encased in a stiff, bristly husk called an involucre. They come in clusters, the involucres joined at the base.

Here are some nuts still on the tree in late summer.

And here's one of the filbert's guests. All of its visitors are harmless; the filbert is not susceptible to any major diseases or pests.

Black Birch

Looking down at the ground, I noticed birch leaves,

and tasted a twig to confirm that it was a black birch (also known as sweet birch - click to see previous post on this species).

The fruiting catkins are mature; they're densely packed with papery seeds.

New female catkins will emerge in the spring out of the pointed buds. Male flower buds (in the upper left corner) are long, scaly, and rounded at the tip. In the spring, they will grow into yellow male catkins.

Sweet Birch

Betula lenta belongs to a group of birches that have rough bark and sweet sap. It has several common names, including black birch and cherry birch.

The leaves are oval-shaped and finely toothed. The twigs, dotted with lenticels, have a minty taste. Before oil of wintergreen was produced synthetically, sweet birches were a prime source. Sweet birch sap was also used to make birch beer.

The female catkins are erect and are about an inch long.

When the sweet birch is young, the bark is shiny with long, horizontal lenticels; it resembles that of a cherry tree. Mature trees like this one have rough, plate-like bark.

Birch

I came across this birch tree near the pond behind the chapel. Might be a silver birch.