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Betula Papyrifera

The Betula Papyrifera is commonly known as Canoe Birch, Paper Birch, Silver Birch, as well as White Birch

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Growing Regions

Paper birch has a transcontinental distribution across northern North America. It grows from Newfoundland and Labrador west along the northern limit of tree growth across Canada to northwestern Alaska, south to Washington, east and north in the mountains to western Montana and southwestern Alberta, east across the Prairie Provinces to Manitoba, and south and east through the Lake States to New England. Scattered outlying populations occur in the Great Plains of Montana and North Dakota, the Black Hills, the Appalachian Mountains from central New York to western North Carolina, and the Front Range of Colorado [57]. Paper birch is cultivated in Hawaii [79]. Detailed descriptions of the ranges of the six varieties are available [38,66].

     

General Information

The currently accepted scientific name of paper birch is Betula papyrifera Marsh. [38]. It is wide ranging and exhibits considerable ecotypic variation. Six intergrading geographical varieties are recognized [38,57]: var. papyrifera - typical paper birch var. cummutata (Regel) Fern. - western paper birch var. cordifolia (Regel) Fern. - mountain paper birch var. kenaica (W. H. Evans) Henry - Kenai birch var. neoalaskana (Sarg.) Raup - Alaska paper birch var. subcordata (Rydb.) Sarg. - northwestern paper birch Birch (Betula spp.) is a genetically plastic genus, often with morphological variation continuous between species [51]. Hybridization is common. Paper birch naturally hybridizes with almost every native species in the genus. Named hybrids include [38,51,57]: B. p. var. neoalaskana x B. glandulosa = B. X eastwoodiae Sarg. (Syn. = B. X dugleana Lepage) B. papyrifera x B. nana = B. X hornei Butler B. papyrifera x B. populifolia = B. X caerulea Blanchard B. papyrifera x B. occidentalis = B. X utahensis (Britt.) Dugle (Syn.= B. X piperi Britton) B. papyrifera x B. pumila var. glandulifera = B. X sandbergii Britt. Crosses with yellow birch (B. alleghaniensis), sweet birch (B. lenta), and river birch (B. nigra) have not been named. 

In boreal spruce ecosystems, paper birch forms nearly pure, pioneer
communities on disturbed sites.  It is rare in late successional or
climax forests and generally restricted to openings.  It is a principal
component of boreal mixedwoods in Canada because its pioneering habit is
favored by the relatively frequent 50- to 125-year fire return interval
[17].  Codominants in mixedwoods include trembling aspen (Populus
tremuloides), black spruce (Picea mariana), white spruce (P.  glauca),
jack pine (Pinus banksiana), and balsam fir (Abies balsamifera).  In the
Northern Great Plains, paper birch forms climax woodland communities on
moist, north- or east-facing slopes [23,28].

Published classifications listing paper birch as a dominant in community
types (cts), habitat types (hts), plant associations (pas), or ecosystem
associations (eas) are presented below:

      Area                 Classification            Authority

interior AK               postfire cts           Foote 1983
AK                        general veg. cts       Viereck & Dyrness 1980
AK: Kenai Peninsula       forest veg. cts        Reynolds 1990
MN: Boundary Waters       general veg. cts       Ohmann & Ream 1971
 Canoe Area         
e MT, ne WY, w ND,        forest & woodland hts  Hansen & others 1984
 w SD: Missouri Plateau 
sw ND                     woodland hts           Girard & others 1989

c NF                      forest veg. cts        Damman 1964
PQ: Gaspe Peninsula       forest veg. cts        Zolaseski 1988
    St. Lawrence Valley   general veg. pas       Dansereau 1959
BC: Prince Rupert Forest  general veg. eas       Haeussler & others 1984
 Region, Interior Cedar-
 Hemlock Zone
w-c Alberta               forest eas             Corns & Annas 1986

Much of the information presented here is attributed to:
Uchytil, Ronald J. 1991. Betula papyrifera. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available at USDA Forest Service.

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