Scientific name: Betula pubescens Ehrh.
Common name: Downy Birch, Common Birch
Description
Habit: A deciduous, bushy tree, to 24 m high; crown oval or pyramidical, open, with an irregular silhouette.
Leaves: Triangular, slightly pointed at tip, young leaf-stalks and leaf bases covered with downy hairs, margin simply irregularly toothed.
Flowers: In catkins, not woody, appearing with the leaves; female flowers in stiff, erect catkins, 3 flowers in each bract, bracts 3-lobed, each group with 2 bracteoles, lateral lobes of catkins directed downwards towards the base of the bract, perianth absent; male flowers in long, pendulous catkins with broad bracts, 3 flowers per bract, with minute perianth and 2 stamens.
Fruits: Winged achenes.
Twigs: Not drooping; young shoots covered with downy hairs and without pale, raised glands, except some trees that are hairless and have small, brown glands.
Bark: Brown, white or grey, rarely white with strongly contrasting black fissures below.
Habitat: Woods and copses and rocky ground.
Distribution: Very frequent on siliceous soils, local on limestone.
Native status: Native
Threats: Grazing
Of conservation interest: No