Silver Birch
Betula pendula, family Betulaceae
A tall deciduous tree with white peeling bark and triangular leaves
Silver birch is a medium to tall deciduous tree with striking white, peeling bark and slender, often drooping twigs. Native across Europe and parts of Asia, it bears catkin flowers and light winged seeds, and is valued in gardens, forestry, and traditional uses from sauna rituals to medicine.
- National tree of Finland
- Produces up to 1.66 million pollen grains per male catkin
- Bark contains up to 20% betulin
- Considered invasive in parts of the United States and Canada
- One of the first trees to grow on bare or fire-swept land
What does Silver Birch look like?
Silver birch is a deciduous tree that typically grows 15 to 25 metres tall, with a slender trunk under 40 cm wide. Its most distinctive feature is the white bark that peels in papery flakes. Young branches are hairless, slender, and often pendulous, with small sticky buds. The leaves are triangular, 3–7 cm long, with doubly serrated edges, turning yellow in autumn. It produces separate male and female catkins on the same tree.
Where does Silver Birch come from?
Silver birch is native across a vast range from western Europe through temperate Asia to Siberia, Mongolia, and Xinjiang in China. It also grows in the mountains of northern Morocco, Turkey, the Caucasus, and northern Iran. In southern parts of its range, it is restricted to higher elevations. It has been introduced to North America, where it is sometimes invasive.
When and how Silver Birch blooms
This tree flowers in spring, with male catkins releasing pollen and female catkins maturing soon after the leaves unfurl. Wind pollination occurs in midsummer, and by late summer, the cylindrical female catkins release countless tiny winged seeds that scatter widely. It thrives in full sun on dry, acidic soils and is one of the first trees to colonise bare or burnt ground.
How Silver Birch is used
In Finland, silver birch is the national tree, and leafy young boughs called vihta or vasta are used in sauna rituals. It is planted in parks and gardens for its ornamental bark and form. Its wood is used for furniture, plywood, skis, and firewood. The bark yields resin, tannins, and betulin, and the spring sap can be tapped like maple syrup.
Kinds of Silver Birch
Three subspecies are recognised: subsp. pendula in Europe and central Asia; subsp. mandshurica in eastern Asia and western North America (sometimes treated as Betula platyphylla); and subsp. szechuanica in western China (sometimes classified as Betula szechuanica). Several former varieties and forms are no longer accepted.
What Silver Birch means
Silver birch is Finland’s national tree and holds cultural importance in northern Europe. It supports rich woodland ecosystems, allowing light through its open canopy for plants like bluebells and wood anemones. Over 130 insect species feed almost exclusively on it. Though listed as least concern globally, some former synonyms were once considered vulnerable or extinct.
Questions people ask about Silver Birch
Where does silver birch come from?
It is native from western Europe across temperate Asia to Siberia and China, and south to the mountains of Morocco, Turkey, the Caucasus, and northern Iran.
What is silver birch used for?
It is used ornamentally in gardens, for timber, firewood, sauna whisks in Finland, tanning, and traditional medicine. Its sap can be tapped in spring.
Is silver birch the same as white birch?
In Europe, silver birch (Betula pendula) is distinct from downy birch. In older North American texts, 'white birch' sometimes incorrectly referred to B. pendula, but it usually means B. papyrifera.
When does silver birch flower?
Male catkins develop in winter and release pollen in midsummer. Female catkins appear in spring with the leaves and mature by late summer.
Why is the bark white?
The white colour comes from papery tissue that develops on the surface and peels off in flakes, similar to paper birch. This gives the trunk its characteristic bright appearance.
Good reading and sources
- Betula pendula subsp. pendula 'Purpurea' | purple-leaf birchRoyal Horticultural Society, Article
- IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesIUCN Red List, Article
- Plants of the World OnlineRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Plant database
- Where it has been recordedGBIF, Plant database
- Sightings and photos by naturalistsiNaturalist, Plant database
- Betula pendula on WikipediaEncyclopedia
- More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos
- Wikidata recordOpen data
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Betula pendula", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryPhool rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. It is not medical or foraging advice: many flowers are poisonous, and traditional uses are reported, not recommended. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-04.
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