The birch with non-acuminate leaves

Species name: Betula pendula

Common name: Weeping birch, silver birch

Location: Ontario

The weeping birch, usually having typical birch-shaped leaves ("acuminate" shaped leaves), is a common species in Europe and Asia throughout its native range and is often called the silver birch because of the bright white or silverish bark of the trunk of the tree. This particular tree is a certain type of weeping birch called the "cutleaf weeping birch", named after its very pronounced toothy leaves. There was once the suggestion that they should be different species because they are so morphologically different (the only real thing they have in common is the general shape of the tree; if that was all that was needed to determine species we would only have about 6 species of trees!), but this idea has been abandoned now that we know how genetically similar they are. There isn't enough variation in the barcoding regions of their genomes to allow for a separate species designation.

The first thing that many Canadians think of (if you're born before 1990 and/or was a member of boy scouts or girl scouts) when they hear "silver birch" is the camp song called "Land of the Silver Birch." To this day, I can still remember every single word! Unfortunately, that song has nothing to do with this tree. The song actually refers to the paper birch, the one from which birch bark canoes are made (which you can read all about HERE).

There are very few modern uses of the silver birch, although historical use of this tree was wide reaching. Currently it is used to make the poles for horse jumps since the wood is heavy enough to stay in place, but not too heavy to injure the horse if it hits the jump. They are also commonly used in the making of wooden utensils because of the attractive grain of the wood and the fact that it doesn't give off a flavour in the food like maple or oak wood would. In Europe the silver birch is popular in the pulp and paper industry, but in Canada we use other species primarily for this purpose. Historically, wine was produced from the sap of the tree, and that same sap could be condensed down and used as a type of glue. The bark was also popular for tanning leathers, especially when a light colour was desired (other barks or plant products were used if a dark colour was desired).

Birch bark canoes in tree form

Species name: Betula papyrifera

Common name: paper birch, white birch

Location: Ontario

This tree species is incredibly common in Canada, from the northern edge of the Carolinian forest north to the tree line. Despite being a deciduous tree, it is most common in coniferous forests like the Boreal forest. It is not shade tolerant, so is one of the first species to colonize an area that has been burned or deforested. It is also a popular ornamental tree for the attractive bark: white, peeling bark on the trunk, and reddish-brown bark on the twigs.

There are a few notable uses of the white birch. The first is in the lumber and construction industry. While the lumber generated from a white birch is not ideal for building anything other than ornamental pieces (chairs, tables, etc.), chipping the trunks and pressing them into boards gives OSB or oriented strand board, which is incredibly important in the housing industry. It is used most commonly as sub-flooring in homes (and as wall panels on which to attach other decorative surfaces), but also sometimes as sub-roofing (but is not very water resistant and so requires a membrane before the roof can be shingled). By far, the most substantial use of white birch today is in the manufacture of (drumroll) popsicle sticks.

There are unusual pockets of boreal forest that exist in the middle of the United States that are likely remnants from the last major ice age. Because it is now (more than likely) too warm for the white birch to happily exist in those locations, it is listed as threatened or vulnerable (or some variation thereof) in seven states: Tennessee, Colorado, Wyoming, West Virginia, Virginia, Illinois and Indiana. It is the provincial tree of Saskatchewan and the state tree of New Hampshire.

Historically, it was very important to Native North Americans as a canoe tree. There were two different kinds of canoes built from this tree, depending on the intended use. The first is to cut down a large tree and hollow out the inside to make a thin shell. These types of canoes weren't very common since finding trees large enough to do this is rare. Using bark pieces to form a waterproof barrier and shaping around a frame made of thin branches was much more common, and is still done in some areas today (although more of an ornamental canoe as opposed to one used for fishing and transport).