Betula pendula (Silver Birch)

Betula pendula, commonly called silver birch or European white birch, is a graceful medium-sized tree with slender pendulous branches and attractive bark. Golden brown on twigs and young branches, the bark matures to silvery white with black clefts. Smooth in young trees, the bark gets rugged at the base in older trees. Featuring an elegant, pyramidal to oval, rounded habit, it bears ovate, toothed, glossy green leaves, 2.5 in. long (7 cm), which turn yellow in fall before they shed for the winter. In spring, tiny yellowish-brown male flowers appear in drooping catkins while greenish female flowers appear in upright catkins. The female flowers give way to drooping cone-like fruits containing numerous small winged seeds.