Grey birch

Leaves

Form

• Triangular
• Tip long-pointed, tapering
• Base almost straight across
• Pendulous 
• Upper surface rough
• Lower surface shiny
• Veins 6–9 per side
• Preformed leaves hairless
• Neoformed leaves slightly hairy

Length

• 4–7 cm

Colour

• Upper surface shiny dark green
• Lower surface lighter green

Margin

• Each vein ends in a large tooth
• 40 (18–47) teeth per side, of 2 distinct sizes
• Larger teeth sometimes appear to be small lobes
• Toothless near petiole

Petiole

• Slender

Buds

Form

• Pointed, gummy, often hairy

Colour

• Uniform light brownish-grey

Twigs

Form

• Slender, hairless, with many resin glands

Colour

• Dark brown to grey

Flowers

Form

• Pollen catkins usually solitary

Length

• About 2 cm in winter, 6–10 cm at pollination
• Seed catkins 1–1.5 cm

Structure

• Monoecious

Fruits

Form

• Mature seed catkins blunt-tipped, semi-erect
• Nutlets almost hairless
• Scales densely hairy on the inner side with 2 broad recurved lateral lobes and a very short central lobe

Length

• Mature seed catkins 1.5–2 cm
• Scales 2–3 mm

Width

• Mature seed catkins narrow
• Wings much wider than the nutlet

Timing

• Shed in late autumn and early winter

Bark

Form

• Thin, smooth when young
• With age peels with difficulty into small, thin, rectangular plates
• Triangular patches often form below the branches

Colour

• Dark reddish-brown when young, becoming dull chalky-white
• Triangular patches black

Size

Height

• To 12 m

Diameter

• To 15 cm

Maximum age

• 50 years

Tree form

Open-grown

Trunk

• Usually curved and leaning
• Distinct nearly to the top of the crown

Crown

• Narrow, irregular, open, with many slender branches
• Older branches often S-shaped

Habitat

Site

• Sandy or gravelly soils of any moisture regime
• Often in clumps

Light tolerance

• Not shade-tolerant

Associated species

• In pure stands on abandoned pastures and areas recently cut or burned
• Eventually replaced by more tolerant and longer-lived species

Range

Maritime provinces