WINTER TREES 7 : SILVER BIRCH

 Birches are famous for their bark.  The Silver Birch (Betula pendula) gets dark diamond-shaped marks on the bark when it matures.  These can coalesce at the bottom of very mature trees into a black, crusty surface.

It also, as the Latin name suggests, has very drooping, pendulous twigs giving a sweet sadness to the tree.  There is actually a variant 'Tristis' (meaning sad) which is as droopy as the best wild trees.

The Downy Birch (Betula pubescens) is non weeping and does not have black diamonds on the bark.  It prefers damper soil.  Unfortunately all birches love to hybridise if they get the chance so you can get intermediate forms.

Here is another birch recognition feature in winter: the male catkins, which will open in April and May, are already showing on the slender twigs - many of them in pairs

Other birches which you will find in gardens are the Himalayan Birch (Betula utilis var.jacquemontii ) with startlingly white bark, 

  

and the weeping birch (Betula pendula 'Youngii'), which I find is usually an apology for a tree.

There are 60 species of birch worldwide.