Grey Birch

Grey Birch

Gray birch (Betula populifolia):

Gray birch is an easy tree to identify.  The bark is white, technically gray.  White birch is an ornamental tree in southern New England, it occurs wild only in the northern parts of New England and New York.  So if you see a white barked tree in the woods, it is most likely a gray birch.  Its leaves are eaten by a number of insects that provide food for migratory birds.

Its wood is soft and supple.  Heavy snows can bend even tall gray birch to the ground without breaking the trunk.  When the snow falls off or melts the tree will spring back to approximately the original conformation.

Katrina BergmanGrey Birch