Index / Search / Betula papyrifera
§1 Plant
Betula papyrifera Marshall
vernacular paper 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
- AK Alaska Native
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
- SPM St. Pierre & Miquelon Native
§2b
County-level range
· 167 counties across 12 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- High
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- Medium
- Anaerobic
- Low
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- Low
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -62 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 80 min.
- Precipitation
- 12–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 4.2–7.4
- Root depth
- 24 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 70 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 40 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
- Mid Spring
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Rapid
- Stratify
- Yes
- Seeds / lb
- 1,380,800
- Propagation
- seed, cuttings, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- High
- Palatable, human
- Yes
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Fuelwood
- High
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 167 counties across 12 states/territories.
Alaska view state ↗ 18 N ▾
- Anchorage 02020
- Bethel 02050
- Bristol Bay 02060
- Chugach 02063
- Copper River 02066
- Denali 02068
- Dillingham 02070
- Fairbanks North Star 02090
- Haines 02100
- Juneau 02110
- Kenai Peninsula 02122
- Kodiak Island 02150
- Lake and Peninsula 02164
- Matanuska-Susitna 02170
- Nome 02180
- Northwest Arctic 02188
- Southeast Fairbanks 02240
- Yukon-Koyukuk 02290
Maine view state ↗ 16 N ▾
Massachusetts view state ↗ 14 N ▾
Montana view state ↗ 7 N ▾
New Hampshire view state ↗ 10 N ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 9 N ▾
New York view state ↗ 37 N ▾
- Albany 36001
- Cattaraugus 36009
- Chemung 36015
- Clinton 36019
- Columbia 36021
- Delaware 36025
- Dutchess 36027
- Essex 36031
- Greene 36039
- Hamilton 36041
- Herkimer 36043
- Jefferson 36045
- Kings 36047
- Lewis 36049
- Livingston 36051
- Monroe 36055
- Nassau 36059
- New York 36061
- Niagara 36063
- Ontario 36069
- Orange 36071
- Putnam 36079
- Rensselaer 36083
- Rockland 36087
- Saratoga 36091
- Schenectady 36093
- Schoharie 36095
- St. Lawrence 36089
- Suffolk 36103
- Tioga 36107
- Tompkins 36109
- Ulster 36111
- Warren 36113
- Washington 36115
- Wayne 36117
- Westchester 36119
- Wyoming 36121
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 29 N ▾
- Allegheny 42003
- Bedford 42009
- Berks 42011
- Blair 42013
- Bradford 42015
- Cameron 42023
- Carbon 42025
- Centre 42027
- Clearfield 42033
- Clinton 42035
- Elk 42047
- Huntingdon 42061
- Lackawanna 42069
- Lehigh 42077
- Luzerne 42079
- Lycoming 42081
- Mifflin 42087
- Monroe 42089
- Northampton 42095
- Pike 42103
- Potter 42105
- Schuylkill 42107
- Snyder 42109
- Sullivan 42113
- Tioga 42117
- Union 42119
- Warren 42123
- Wayne 42127
- Wyoming 42131
Rhode Island view state ↗ 3 N ▾
Vermont view state ↗ 13 N ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 7 N ▾
West Virginia view state ↗ 4 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/BEPA ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/5332120 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T05:06:36Z