Index / Search / Betula papyrifera
§1 Plant
Betula papyrifera Marshall
vernacular paper birch — species · Betulaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Betulaceae Gray
- Genus
- Betula
§2a
Native status, by region
- AK Alaska Native
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
- SPM St. Pierre & Miquelon Native
§2b
County-level range
· 10 counties across 2 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- High
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- Medium
- Anaerobic
- Low
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- Low
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -62 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 80 min.
- Precipitation
- 12–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 4.2–7.4
- Root depth
- 24 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 70 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 40 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
- Mid Spring
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Rapid
- Stratify
- Yes
- Seeds / lb
- 1,380,800
- Propagation
- seed, cuttings, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- High
- Palatable, human
- Yes
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Fuelwood
- High
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 10 counties across 2 states/territories.
Montana view state ↗ 7 N ▾
Rhode Island view state ↗ 3 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/BEPA ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/5332120 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z