BIRCH
Betula alba
COMMON NAMES: White birch, cherry birch, sweet birch, mountain mahogany, spice birch.
FEATURES: Nearly forty species in the Betulaceae family of trees and shrubs are given the common name
of birch.
This is an ancient tree; in fossil form it goes back to the upper Cretaceous, and remains abundant and
widespread in the northern hemisphere in both the Old World and the New. In North America it ranges
from the Arctic Circle to Florida and Texas; usually found in woods; domestically in landscape decor
throughout the United States.
Birch, an eye-catching tree, reaches heights of 45–50 feet. It may be white, yellow, brown, or almost
black; frequently the trunk is smooth in young trees, later becoming marked with horizontal lines. The
alternate leaves are characteristically simple, bright green, and toothed. The flowers develop in wormlike
catkins of two types. The staminate appear near the ends of the branches in late summer or autumn and
elongate the following spring into pendulous structures, exposing the brownish bracts. The minute flowers
are located in the axils of these. Seen in the temperate zones in April and May. The ovaries mature into
minute winged nutlets that are scattered in autumn or may be seen flecked on the winter snow.
MEDICINAL PARTS: Bark, leaves.
SOLVENTS: Alcohol, boiling water.
BODILY INFLUENCE: Aromatic, stimulant, diaphoretic.
USES: As a food and medicine; Native Americans tapped the birch for its sap as a beverage and syrup.
Oil of wintergreen is distilled from the inner bark and twigs.
The common birch has a purpose in our family of medicinal trees. When we see them used for
landscaping we may like to remember, with pleasure, their additional, healing properties.
Traditionally the birch is appropriate in treatment of diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, and all maladies of
the alimentary tract. The natural properties are cleansing to the blood, and it is used specifically for
rheumatism, dropsy, gout, stones in the kidneys and bladder, and to expel worms.
DOSE: A teaspoonful of the leaves or bark or both infused in 1 cup of boiling water for 15 minutes, 3–5
cups daily; mixes well with other herbal teas.