White birch

This tree, also named white birch, has 15 to 25 m tall. It has an oftencurved trunk and a narrowly oval, open crown.

Its thin, smooth bark is reddish-brown on young stems. It later becomes rosy white to creamy white and peels off easily in large horizontal sheets. The bark shows prominent horizontal lenticels. The alternate leaves have sharp, irregular, double teeth. They are dull green above and lighter green beneath, with some hairs. The leaves bear 5 to 9 pairs of lateral veins.

The paper birch flowers are clustered in long catkins. The fruit is a nutlet.

Several nutlets are found in an elongated, drooping, stalked cone, resembling the cones of conifers.