Plant Family: Betulaceae
Growth Form: Large tree up to 25 meters high.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, ovate, double toothed, with pointed tips, up to 10 cm long. Broken twigs have a pleasant wintergreen aroma.
Bark: Reddish brown with whitish lenticels on young trees, becoming dark gray to black with blocky plates on older trees; the bark does not peel.
Flowers: Male catkins at the ends of the twigs first form in fall and lengthen and mature in the spring. Female catkins form in spring further back on the branches.
Fruits: Upright aments to about 3 cm long ripen by late summer; the winged seeds are dispersed by wind.
Habitat: Shares habitat with Yellow Birch, but less tolerant of poorly drained soils.
Range: Most of New England except northern Maine, ranging south in the Appalachians to Georgia.
Similar Species: The leaves, and the wintergreen odor of the twigs, are much like Yellow Birch; compare the bark to separate the two. Young saplings may be difficult to distinguish from Yellow Birch.
Comments: A tasty tea can be brewed from the new twigs.
