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River
birch,
also known as red birch, grows along the banks of rivers, ponds
and marshes. It is a medium sized tree that grows to a height of
fifty to seventy five feet.
Sweet
birch,
sometimes called cherry birch, measure sixty to eighty feet when
fully grown. Its branches are slender.
Its
delicate twigs have a wintergreen flavor. Its wood is used in
interior finish and furniture.
Water
birch
is a shrubby tree native found in moist areas along the western
coast of North America. Its bark is non-peeling and is dark-red in
color. It grows in clusters, with all stems rising from a common
root system.
Yellow
birch
has yellowish or dark grey bark. Its twigs are bronze colored
when young. A medium sized tree, it scales a height of fifty to
seventy five feet.
Yellow birch is good for timber and making furniture.
In
the East, the Japanese
monarch birch is a valuable timber tree. A tall tree, it grows
to a height of hundred feet and has flaking grey or orange-grey
bark. Its leaves are shaped like a heart. The leaves are long,
measuring six inches in length. The Japanese
cherry birch also produces useful timber. Many varieties of
Chinese birches and the Japanese white birch are used
ornamentally.
Uses
Birches
in the pale to reddish brown range of color are used for
flooring, furniture, cabinetry, interior finishing, vehicle parts,
plywood, pulp, and turnery. Birches with a thin bark were used for
roofing and making canoes and shoes for North American Indians and
early settlers. Birch oil is extracted form the sap of the birch
tree.
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