Silver birch trees

 

Are there different varieties?

I've just been looking out the window at the rain and wind
and noticed two of our mature silver birch trees look a bit
different. One has fine twigs that cascade downwards from
the branches and the other has erect twigs. Both trees are
multi-stem and around 50 feet tall.
--
David in Normandy

 


In Britain there are three species of Birch, the Silver Birch (Betula
pendula), the Downy Birch (Betula pubescens) and the Dwarf Birch (Betula
nana). (Betula nana is not found in the lowlands.)

There might be more species present in Europe, but most of the published
names represent synonyms and subspecies of B. pendula and B. pubescens.

Hybrids among the native birches are common, and it is hard to draw a
line between the two species.

It is possible that you've got a Betula pendula (with downward cascading
twigs) and a Betula pubescens, but even after looking at the trees in
life it might not be possible to say for certain.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

 

Stewart Robert Hinsley says...

Thanks for the information.

The one with downward cascading twigs looks really elegant.
Impossible to tell a difference just looking at the trunks
though. Both have the characteristic silver peeling bark.
--
David in Normandy

 

On 15/1/08 16:55, in article MPG.21f703fe6560e45d98977c@news.wanadoo.fr,

<snip>

Betula jacquemontii is a real beauty and certainly worth consideration.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

 



Looking out of my window, one of my neighbour's silver birches has droopy twigs
on the
leeward side and upright twigs on the windy side. The droopy twigs are not
wind-blown
oddities like one sees on the edge of moors, but delicate and seem to have blobs
on the
end which remind me of tiny cones (I am some way off) where the upright ones
have no blobs
on the ends.

Kath