Name:  Betula nigra	Description: Family:   Growth Form: Up to 75 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 2 feet; crown irregularly rounded.   Stems: The bark is curling, shredding, brownish-pink to reddish-brown. The twigs are slender, reddish-brown, with several short hairs; leaf scars alternate, half-elliptical, with 3 bundle traces. Leaves:  Alternate, simple; blades rhombic to ovate, coarsely boubly toothed, paler and densely hairy on the lower surface, up to 3 inches long, acute at the tip, truncate or tapering to the base, the leafstalks woolly. Flower Arrangement:  Flowers:  Staminate and pistillate on same tree, inconspicuous, opening in late April and May, the staminate in slender drooping clusters, the pistillate in short, conelike, woolly clusters. Petals: The buds reach up to one-fourth inch long, pointed, and hairy. Stamens:    . Pistil:  Fruits: Tiny, hairy nuts, ea h with a 2-lobed wing, crowded together in a cylindrical cone up to 1 1/2 inches long and 1/2 inch thick.	Discussion: The River Birch's distinguishing features include the shaggy, peeling reddish-brown bark readily distinguishes this tree from any other in Illinois, as does its rhombic, boubly toothed leaves.
Image:	Location: Habitat: Along rivers and streams; bottomland woods. Range: Massachusetts and New Hampshire across to southern Minnesota and eastern Kansas, south to eastern Texas and Florida.	Waypoint:  N 38 degrees 34.755 minutes W 89 degrees 04.146 minutes Elevation 475 feet

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Photos courtesy: Odin Tech Prep Team 2004
Project courtesy: Grant Arnold, Deniz Hawley, Kristen Minor, Brian Deadmond

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