Japanese White Birch – Betula platyphylla var. japonica

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]

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]