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Arctic Moor Birch - Betula pubescens subspecies tortuosa
The Arctic Moor Birch occurs as a shrub or small tree, to 20 feet.
It is native to Iceland, Greenland, Scandinavia and Northern Europe.
Also commonly called "Mountain Birch", this tree extends farther into
the arctic than any other broadleaf tree.
Trees - Table
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Leaves and Catkins |
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The Arctic Moor Birch is a shrub
or small tree, growing to 20 feet. It is native to Greenland,
Scandinavia and protected inland valleys of Northern Europe.
It is usually multi-trunked, with often interlacing,
ascending branches.
Twigs have numerous small resin glands. Leaf blade is ovate,
rhombic-ovate, or suborbiculate-rhombic, 1-2 inches long, base cuneate to truncate, margins coarsely
serrate or dentate, apex acute; surfaces abaxially
moderately pubescent. Infructescences 1/2 inch; scales
pubescent to glabrous, often ciliate, central lobe oblong or
narrowly triangular, apex acute to obtuse, lateral lobes
divergent and ascending, about equal in length but somewhat
broader. Samaras with wings about equal in diameter to body,
broadest near summit, usually extended beyond body apically. |
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Animals dependant on
Birch
- Moose: Important browse throughout most of
range. Nutritional quality is poor in winter,
but is important to wintering moose because of
its sheer abundance in young stands.
- White-tailed Deer: though considered a
"secondary-choice food", it is an important
dietary component. In Minnesota, white-tailed
deer eat considerable amounts of birch leaves in
the fall.
- Snowshoe hare browse birch seedlings and
saplings.
- Porcupines feed on the inner bark
- Beaver also eat it though generally prefer
aspen, while willow and paper birch are second
choice foods.
- Voles and shrews eat the seeds.
- Numerous birds and small mammals eat paper
birch buds, catkins and seeds.
- Young paper birch stands provide prime deer
and moose cover.
Birds:
- Numerous cavity-nesting birds nest in birch,
including woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches,
and swallows.
- A favorite feeding tree of yellow-bellied
sapsuckers, which peck holes in the bark to feed
on the sap. Hummingbirds and red squirrels also
feed at sap wells in paper birch created by
sapsuckers.
- Ruffed grouse eat the catkins and buds.
- Redpolls, siskins, and chickadees obtain a
considerable portion of their annual diet from
birch seeds
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