A modern reference to temperate woody plants, including updated content from this site and much new material, can be found at Trees and Shrubs Online.

Betula pumila L.

Modern name

Betula pumila L.

An erect-habited shrub 2 to 9 (sometimes more) ft high; the young shoots downy or felted, but not warty. Leaves roundish, oval or obovate, 12 to 112 in. long, pointed or bluntish at the apex, coarsely toothed, more or less downy on both sides, often thickly so; pale or greyish beneath; chief veins in five or six pairs, the smaller ones in between them finely netted; leaf-stalk 18 in. or less long. Fruiting catkins 12 to 1 in. long, middle lobe of scales longer than the side ones.

Native of eastern N. America, where it inhabits boggy places from Labrador to Ohio. It is only likely to be confused in gardens with B. humilis and B. fruticosa, both of which have warted, glandular branchlets. It has little merit in the garden.


Genus

Betula

Other species in the genus