Tree of the day: Betula alleghaniensis, Yellow or swamp birch, Archway Lodge
Betula alleghaniensis is a species of deciduous broadleaf flowering plants (in the Betulaceae or Birch family), native to north-eastern North America.
Betula alleghaniensis is a species of deciduous broadleaf flowering plants (in the Betulaceae or Birch family), native to north-eastern North America. It is a medium-sized tree of up to about 25 metres with a lifespan of 150 years. Its bark is distinctive. Young bark has a shiny, almost metallic, yellow-bronze colour; it peels and curls back in horizontal strips, and is sometimes marked with horizontal lines. In older trees the bark of the trunk becomes darker and divided into plates.
Betula alleghaniensis bears pendulous male catkins and upright female ones. Its leaves are oval, of medium size, with a tapering tip, a flat or slightly heart-shaped base, edges with forward-pointing teeth of two sizes (described as "doubly serrate", 1–3 small teeth between each large one), and 7–10 pairs of veins running forwards from the central axis. The leaves turn a bright yellow-gold in autumn, when it produces small two-winged seeds (samaras).
The native habitat is mixed forest, sometimes on mountains, and it thrives in moist conditions. Its wood is strong and quite heavy but rots easily. It is used for furniture, flooring, doors and many other purposes. Native Americans use its bark for shelters, canoes and containers. Its sap can be tapped to make syrup, as for Acer saccharum, the sugar maple (also present in Whiteknights Park). Betula alleghaniensis is the provincial tree of Quebec.
about this species
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This website is a virtual arboretum, created for interest, education and beauty. It exhibits some of the thousands of trees, of both native and exotic species, that grow in Whiteknights Park, the main campus of the University of Reading. Many of them have been planted since the university arrived in 1947, but some have been here since the 19th century or earlier, when Whiteknights was the gardens and parkland of large houses. More than a hundred of the trees are listed in The Tree Register, nine as British Isles champions (the largest or tallest of their species).
Please send any comments about this website to whiteknights-trees@reading.ac.uk.
The previous version of this website is here.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank: Rupert Taylor, Owen Johnson, Alastair Culham, Jonathan Mitchley, Jordan Bilsborrow, Marcus Wheeler, Benoît Vannière, Miguel Teixeira and Claire Hawkins for tree identifications; Brian Hunt and Trevor Smith for testing routes and contributing text; Dylan Parkes, Martin Watts, Emilija Rudzinskaite, Brian and Trevor for collaboration on the centenary project; Dan Hodson for useful code examples; Studio Lift for website style; Brian, Trevor and Nathanaël van Twillert for comments and suggestions on website user experience; Benoît, Marcus, Steve George, Mark Wrightham, Brian, Trevor, the Friends of the University of Reading, and other friends for their encouragement during the development of the website; the University and its grounds staff for maintaining Whiteknights Park.