Betula pendula, silver birch, in Belfast Botanic Gardens

This is one of a series of short articles about trees in the Belfast Botanic Gardens compiled by the Friends group. The tree tag number relates to the small aluminium discs, usually fixed on the tree trunk, 2 to 3m above ground level.

Silver birch (Betula pendula) is native to almost all of the British Isles, although commoner in the south, preferring drier and acid soils. The leaves are toothed with large and small teeth, taper to a sharp point and are without hairs. These characters distinguish the silver birch from the downy birch ( Betula pubescens) which has a more rounded tip to the leaf and hairy leaves. The female catkins of silver birch stick up from the hanging branches while the male catkins hang down. There are several fine specimens in Belfast Botanic Gardens, one close to the Botanic Avenue gate (photographed here) and another by the gate into the garden works yard.

Photos taken in Belfast Botanic Gardens in 2010. Copyright: Friends of Belfast Botanic Gardens.

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Silver birch in Belfast Botanic Gardens	Leaf of silver birch

Female catkin of silver birch, detail inset	Male catkin of silver birch, detail inset

Typical silvery bark of mature silver birch, Belfast Botanic Gardens	The more rounded leaf of Betula pubescens for comparison

Belfast Botanic Gardens Tree Archive