The Dawes Arboretum

Common name: sweet birch, cherry birch, black birch

Family: Betulaceae (birch family)

Distribution: e. North America

Habitat: Rich, moist, cool forests, especially on protected slopes, to rockier, more exposed sites; 0--1500 m

IUCN Red list: Least concern

Hardiness: USDA Zone 3

Life form: Deciduous tree

Usage: Medicine

Comments: A large native tree with glossy, dark green, simple leaves. Reddish brown stems are slender, with a strong wintergreen odor and flavor when chewed. It has a distinctly conical form when young but with age the crown can spread widely. It grows 40-50' tall and nearly as wide. Bark is dark red-brown to black. Its golden yellow fall color is among the best of the birches. Resistant to bronze birch borer, the scourge of white bark birches.