Japanese White Birch - Betula platyphylla var. japonica
Family: Betulaceae
Parent plant is commonly called the Asian White Birch
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Japanese White Birch - Betula platyphylla var. japonica
Japanese White Birch, from seed, is 6 years old

Asian white birch is native to Korea, Japan, and northern China. It is a deciduous, monoecious tree with white bark, growing as tall as 20 m.

The bark of the Japanese white birch is used in traditional herbal remedies as a tonic, haemetic, and to reduce inflammation.

Chemical components with ascribed anti-fungal properties:
Triterpenoids; lupeol, betulin, betulafolianediol, betulafolienetriol, oleanolic acid, platyphyllin, platypyllonol, betuloside, betuligenol, paeonol, betulafolienetetraol, betulafolienepentaol. Flavonoids; myricetin, myricitrin, hemiphloin, hyperoside. [2]

The antioxidant and anticancer properties of Betula platyphylla var. japonica are also being investigated. [3]

Japanese White Birch - Betula platyphylla var. japonica

Leaves alternate, ovate to triangular-ovate, 5-7 cm long and 4-6 cm wide, acuminate, mostly broadly cuneate at base, unequally serrate, glabrous or sparsely short-pilose beneath, with brownish axillary hairs, petioles 1.5-2 cm long. Branchlets dark purple-brown, granular.

Flowers are unisexual, borne in catkins male catkins forming in autumn, remaining naked during the winter, and opening in spring, female catkins becoming conelike, with 3-lobed scales. Nuts narrowly obovate to ovate, 1.2-2.2 mm long, puberulous, wings 1.5-2 times wider than the nuts, ripening in Sep. Apr. - May. [2]

Japanese White Birch - Betula platyphylla var. japonica  
Foliage and Catkins

Kingdom Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass Hamamelididae
Order Fagales
Family Betulaceae – Birch family
Genus Betula L. – birch
Species Betula platyphylla Sukaczev – Asian white birch
Variety Betula platyphylla Sukaczev var. japonica (Miq.) H. Hara [1]

References
  1. USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Plants Profile Betula platyphylla Sukaczev var. japonica
  2. World Health Organization, Office for the Western Pacific, Medicinal Plants in the Republic of Korea, Betula platyphylla var. japonica
  3. Eun Mi Ju et al., “Antioxidant and anticancer activity of extract from Betula platyphylla var. japonica,” Life Sciences 74, no. 8 (January 2004): 1013-1026, doi:10.1016/j.lfs.2003.07.025.

 

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