HDS #2: One Moor Birch
The 2nd cache in this (currently) short series, a camo-taped 35mm film pot, is hidden at the base of an attractive and useful tree on the northern edge of mixed woodland known as Wharton's Plantation or Hob Beck Plantation - named after the beck which runs along its southern edge to join Skirfa Beck.
Commonly called downy birch, but aka moor birch, (European) white birch, or hairy birch (Betula pubescens or alba) is a deciduous tree, native and abundant throughout N Europe and N Asia, growing farther north than any other broadleaf. It is a pioneer species, readily colonising cleared land, but later being replaced by taller, more long-lived species. Its name comes from its hairy leaf-stalks.
It grows to 20m (rarely to 27m) with a slender crown and a trunk up to 70cm (exceptionally 1 m) in diameter, with smooth bark finely marked with dark horizontal lenticels.
It is similar to silver birch (B. pendula) but can be distinguished from this by several differences. Its smooth, downy shoots, which are hairless and warty in silver birch. Its branches are upward or horizontally spread, but never pendulous (as with silver birch). Its bark is a dull greyish white, whereas the silver birch has striking white, papery bark with black fissures. Leaf margins are finely serrated in downy birch, coarsely double-toothed in silver birch. The two have differences in habitat requirements, with downy birch more common on wet, poorly drained sites with heavier soils, such as clays and peat bogs, and silver birch found mainly on dry, sandy soils.
There are 6 varieties, various cultivars and also it hybridises with the silver and dwarf birches. Many fungi are associated with the tree and some cause birch dieback disease.
Its outer bark can be stripped off without killing the tree and used to make canoe skins, drinking vessels and roofing tiles. Inner bark is used to make rope and oiled paper. Its tannin rich bark has been used as a brown dye and preservative, and to make high quality charcoal favoured by artists. Twigs and young branches are very flexible and make good whisks and brooms. Its timber is pale, has a fine, uniform texture and is used in the manufacture of plywood, furniture, shelves, coffins, matches and toys, and in turnery.
Its leaves can be infused with boiling water to make a tea, and extracts of the plant have been used as herbal remedies. Both B. pubescens and B. pendula can be tapped in spring to obtain a sugary fluid which can be eaten fresh, concentrated into a syrup similar maple syrup, or fermented into an ale or wine. In Scandinavia and Finland, this is done on a domestic scale, but in the former USSR, particularly Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the sap is harvested commercially and used to manufacture cosmetics, medicines and foodstuffs.
See here for more information on this widespread, attractive and useful tree.
