Ivydene Gardens Adder's Tongue to Borage Wild Flower Families Gallery:
Birch Family

Click on Underlined Text in:-

Common Name to view that Plant Description Page
Botanical Name to link to Plant or Seed Supplier
Flowering Months to view photos
Habitat to view further Natural Habitat details and Botanical Society of the British Isles Distribution Map

Birch Family:-

Stone Lane Gardens is the setting for a National Collection of wild-origin Birch and Alder trees. This status has been awarded to our garden by the NCCPG in recognition of the national importance of this unique and comprehensive collection of Birch and Alder; the best of its kind in the UK.

East of Eden Plants choosing Trees in an Urban Garden, with our design experience we can recommend trees for the smallest of areas including courtyards and roof gardens. We can even supply very large pots and specialist compost for trees for sites with no soil. We also specialise in trees for interiors from the smallest office to the largest atrium area. In addition to trees also see our range of TALL SHRUBS and CLIMBERS.

Birch Family plant table with its Common Name - Botanical Name. Flowering Months Range. Habitat with link to that Wild Flower Gallery:-

Common Name

Botanical Name

Flowering Months

Habitat

Alder

Alnus glutinosa

March-April, before the leaves

A deciduous tree of damp or wet, basic to moderately acidic soils, found beside rivers, streams, canals, lakes and ditches, and in flood plains, fens and bogs, carr and wooded dune-slacks. It can rapidly seed into open sites, producing even-aged stands of mature trees, but seedlings are very shade- and drought-sensitive, so regeneration in woodland is often poor. It is also widely planted. 0-470 m (Garrigill, Cumberland).

Male Catkins in March

Female Catkin from Basted on 23 March

Foliage

Form by River Medway in Kent

Downy Birch

Betula pubescens

April-May, with the leaves

A deciduous tree, usually found in mixed woodland or as isolated trees on roadsides and field boundaries. It grows on a wide range of soils but prefers more acidic, wetter, peatier soils, especially in the uplands. It can rapidly colonise open, unshaded ground, particularly burned areas, open heathland and cut-out peat bogs. It is also widely planted, becoming established in urban areas. 0-685 m (Hilton Fell, Cumberland), and certainly higher in Scotland

Dwarf Birch

Betula nana

June-July

A low-growing, deciduous shrub of upland heaths and blanket bogs, usually found on acidic peat but occasionally rooted into rock crevices. It is found on both moderately dry, sloping sites and on waterlogged, flat ground. Germination may be frequent, but seedlings appear to be removed by grazing. Generally upland, reaching 860 m in Glen Cannich (E. Ross), but descending to 120 m in W. Sutherland.

Flower

Flowers

Juvenile Foliage in May

Form

Italian Alder (Native to Southern Italy not to the UK)

Alnus cordata

March

A deciduous tree found on roadsides, in town parks and in amenity areas. Unlike other Alnus species, it thrives on poor, dry soils, even those over chalk. Street trees flower and fruit freely; the seed is wind dispersed and seedlings are frequent by pavements and on waste ground. Generally lowland, but reaching 305 m at Shap (Westmorland).

Male Catkins

Female Catkin from Strood in Kent

Foliage

Cone

Silver Birch

Betula verrucosa

(Betula pendula)

April-May, with the leaves

A deciduous tree found as even-aged stands or in mixed woodland on a wide range of light, well-drained, particularly acidic soils. It can rapidly colonise open ground, particularly burned areas, and can become a threat to open heathland. It is also widely planted on roadsides and in parkland. Generally lowland, but upper altitudinal limit unknown.

Female Catkin

3 Male Catkins with 1 erect Female Catkin from Borough Green on 31 March

Foliage from Capel on 1 May

Form from Capel on 1 May

Trees for Life is an award-winning charity working to help restore the Caledonian Forest, which formerly covered a large part of the Scottish Highlands. Just 1% of the original forest survives today, as isolated stands of mostly old trees. Since 1989 we’ve been helping to bring this forest back from the brink, both through natural regeneration and by planting trees. Our long term vision is to restore the forest, and all its constituent species, to a 600 square mile area west of Inverness, including our 10,000 acre Dundreggan Estate.

The UN has declared 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity, and Trees for Life has joined a special partnership in the UK, set up to generate awareness and action to benefit the country's species. We've issued a press release about this, highlighting the biodiversity of Dundreggan, where we've found 56 species on the UK's Biodiversity Action Plan list. Read our article, Restoring biodiversity in the Caledonian Forest (from the journal Reforesting Scotland).

Trees for Life is compiling species profiles for all the flora and fauna which together constitute the Caledonian Forest ecosystem. We include both species which currently live there and extinct species which naturally belong in the Caledonian Forest and whose reintroduction in due course we advocate.

The links below lead to other pages with detailed information about the species which comprise the Caledonian Forest ecosystem, and these complement our series on the Ecological features of the Caledonian Forest.

Trees

▪ Alder, common or black

▪ Aspen

▪ Birch (silver birch and downy birch)

▪ Bird cherry  

▪ Dwarf birch

▪ Eared willow

▪ Hazel

▪ Holly

▪ Juniper

▪ Oak

▪ Rowan

▪ Scots pine

Plants

▪ Blaeberry

▪ Creeping ladies tresses

▪ Glittering wood-moss

▪ Heather

▪ Lesser twayblade

▪ Twinflower

Fungi

▪ Pinewood tooth fungi

Lichens

▪ Tree LungwortBirds

▪ Black grouse

▪ Capercaillie

▪ Crested Tit

▪ Osprey

▪ Scottish crossbill

Mammals

▪ European beaver

▪ Pine marten

▪ Red deer

▪ Red squirrel

▪ Scottish wildcat

▪ Wild boar

Insects

▪ Highland biting midge

▪ Pearl-bordered fritillary

▪ Pine looper moth

▪ Wood ants

Other invertebrates

▪ European black slug

Fish

▪ Atlantic salmon

British Trees website:-

"This is the world’s leading online resource about British trees. Explore our A-Z Tree Guide to learn about, appreciate and identify over 70 tree and shrub species found in the British Isles.

The guide includes all native (naturally arrived) as well as common non-native (introduced by people) trees found in the UK.

Acknowledgements

Bill Unsworth created the first British Trees website, which he wanted to be the definitive guide to British Trees. In 2004, he kindly donated this website to the Woodland Trust, the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity. Since then, the Trust has developed and expanded upon Bill’s original website and now re-launched it, as an even bigger and better resource about British Trees.

We also extend our thanks to Collins who have generously supplied illustrations from their 'Tree Guide' book to accompany the species entries on the website."