Betula lenta L.

vernacular sweet birch — species · Betulaceae

USDA: BELE
GBIF: 5331709
Rank: species

sweet birch (Betula lenta) — Platephotograph · Robin SleemanCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Betulaceae Gray
Genus: Betula

§2a

Native status, by region

CAN Canada Native
L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 2 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 2 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Medium
Shade: High
Moisture use: Medium
Fire: Low
Salinity: Medium
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: Low
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -26 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 90 min.
Precipitation: 29–80 in/yr
pH range: 3.6–6.8
Root depth: 28 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Stem
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Moderate
Mature height: 60 ft
Height @ 20 y: 15 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Yellow
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Spring
Seed abundance: Low
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 646,000
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Field Collections Only
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Medium
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: No
Lumber: Yes
Fuelwood: Medium
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 2 counties across 1 state.

Rhode Island view state ↗ 2 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/BELE ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/5331709 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z