§1 Plant
Betula lenta L.
vernacular sweet birch — species · Betulaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Betulaceae Gray
- Genus
- Betula
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 323 counties across 15 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- Low
- Salinity
- Medium
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -26 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 90 min.
- Precipitation
- 29–80 in/yr
- pH range
- 3.6–6.8
- Root depth
- 28 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 60 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 15 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Seed abundance
- Low
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 646,000
- Propagation
- seed, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Field Collections Only
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Medium
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Lumber
- Yes
- Fuelwood
- Medium
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 323 counties across 15 states/territories.
Alabama view state ↗ 10 N ▾
Delaware view state ↗ 1 N ▾
Georgia view state ↗ 17 N ▾
Kentucky view state ↗ 37 N ▾
- Bath 21011
- Bell 21013
- Boyd 21019
- Breathitt 21025
- Campbell 21037
- Carter 21043
- Clay 21051
- Elliott 21063
- Floyd 21071
- Harlan 21095
- Jackson 21109
- Johnson 21115
- Knott 21119
- Knox 21121
- Laurel 21125
- Lawrence 21127
- Lee 21129
- Leslie 21131
- Letcher 21133
- Lewis 21135
- Madison 21151
- Magoffin 21153
- McCreary 21147
- Menifee 21165
- Monroe 21171
- Morgan 21175
- Owsley 21189
- Perry 21193
- Pike 21195
- Powell 21197
- Pulaski 21199
- Rockcastle 21203
- Rowan 21205
- Scott 21209
- Wayne 21231
- Whitley 21235
- Wolfe 21237
Massachusetts view state ↗ 12 N ▾
New Hampshire view state ↗ 9 N ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 16 N ▾
New York view state ↗ 33 N ▾
- Albany 36001
- Allegany 36003
- Bronx 36005
- Cattaraugus 36009
- Columbia 36021
- Delaware 36025
- Dutchess 36027
- Erie 36029
- Greene 36039
- Jefferson 36045
- Kings 36047
- Madison 36053
- Monroe 36055
- Nassau 36059
- New York 36061
- Orange 36071
- Orleans 36073
- Putnam 36079
- Queens 36081
- Rensselaer 36083
- Richmond 36085
- Rockland 36087
- Saratoga 36091
- Schoharie 36095
- Suffolk 36103
- Sullivan 36105
- Tioga 36107
- Tompkins 36109
- Ulster 36111
- Warren 36113
- Wayne 36117
- Westchester 36119
- Yates 36123
North Carolina view state ↗ 22 N ▾
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 58 N ▾
- Adams 42001
- Allegheny 42003
- Armstrong 42005
- Beaver 42007
- Bedford 42009
- Berks 42011
- Blair 42013
- Bucks 42017
- Butler 42019
- Cambria 42021
- Cameron 42023
- Carbon 42025
- Centre 42027
- Chester 42029
- Clarion 42031
- Clearfield 42033
- Clinton 42035
- Crawford 42039
- Cumberland 42041
- Dauphin 42043
- Elk 42047
- Erie 42049
- Fayette 42051
- Forest 42053
- Franklin 42055
- Fulton 42057
- Huntingdon 42061
- Indiana 42063
- Jefferson 42065
- Juniata 42067
- Lackawanna 42069
- Lancaster 42071
- Lawrence 42073
- Lehigh 42077
- Luzerne 42079
- Lycoming 42081
- McKean 42083
- Mercer 42085
- Mifflin 42087
- Monroe 42089
- Montgomery 42091
- Northampton 42095
- Northumberland 42097
- Perry 42099
- Philadelphia 42101
- Pike 42103
- Potter 42105
- Schuylkill 42107
- Somerset 42111
- Sullivan 42113
- Susquehanna 42115
- Tioga 42117
- Venango 42121
- Warren 42123
- Wayne 42127
- Westmoreland 42129
- Wyoming 42131
- York 42133
Rhode Island view state ↗ 2 N ▾
Vermont view state ↗ 5 N ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 56 N ▾
- Albemarle 51003
- Alleghany 51005
- Amherst 51009
- Appomattox 51011
- Augusta 51015
- Bath 51017
- Bedford 51019
- Bland 51021
- Botetourt 51023
- Buchanan 51027
- Buckingham 51029
- Campbell 51031
- Carroll 51035
- Clarke 51043
- Craig 51045
- Culpeper 51047
- Dickenson 51051
- Fairfax 51059
- Fauquier 51061
- Floyd 51063
- Fluvanna 51065
- Franklin 51067
- Frederick 51069
- Giles 51071
- Grayson 51077
- Greene 51079
- Henry 51089
- Highland 51091
- Lee 51105
- Loudoun 51107
- Louisa 51109
- Madison 51113
- Montgomery 51121
- Nelson 51125
- Orange 51137
- Page 51139
- Patrick 51141
- Pittsylvania 51143
- Prince Edward 51147
- Pulaski 51155
- Rappahannock 51157
- Roanoke 51161
- Rockbridge 51163
- Rockingham 51165
- Russell 51167
- Scott 51169
- Shenandoah 51171
- Smyth 51173
- Spotsylvania 51177
- Stafford 51179
- Surry 51181
- Tazewell 51185
- Warren 51187
- Washington 51191
- Wise 51195
- Wythe 51197
West Virginia view state ↗ 40 N ▾
- Barbour 54001
- Braxton 54007
- Brooke 54009
- Calhoun 54013
- Clay 54015
- Doddridge 54017
- Fayette 54019
- Grant 54023
- Greenbrier 54025
- Hampshire 54027
- Hancock 54029
- Hardy 54031
- Jackson 54035
- Jefferson 54037
- Logan 54045
- Marion 54049
- Marshall 54051
- McDowell 54047
- Mineral 54057
- Mingo 54059
- Monongalia 54061
- Monroe 54063
- Morgan 54065
- Nicholas 54067
- Ohio 54069
- Pendleton 54071
- Pocahontas 54075
- Preston 54077
- Raleigh 54081
- Randolph 54083
- Ritchie 54085
- Summers 54089
- Taylor 54091
- Tucker 54093
- Upshur 54097
- Wayne 54099
- Webster 54101
- Wetzel 54103
- Wirt 54105
- Wyoming 54109
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/BELE ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/5331709 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T05:45:41Z