tree
Silver birch
Betula pendula
Growing guidance
Horticultural figures below are practitioner estimates for planning, pending expert review. The botanical record further down is sourced and verifiable.
Current-climate suitability
Create a garden to see this
Future-climate resilience
Create a garden to see this
Sun
Full sun
Soil moisture
free-draining, average, moisture-retentive
Heat tolerance
Up to about 34°C
Cold tolerance
Down to about -35°C
Waterlogging tolerance
4/5
Drought tolerance
3/5
Mature size
8–18 m tall, 6 m spread
Seasonal interest
Spring catkins, autumn gold · White bark
Maintenance
low
Wildlife supported
General wildlife value 5/5 (verified species relationships are shown only where structured data exists)
Known risks or warnings
Shallow roots compete strongly with nearby planting.
Toxicity: none
Verified botanical record
- Accepted scientific name
- Betula pendula Roth
- Family
- Betulaceae (Fagales)
- Rank and status
- species · accepted
- GBIF record
- Taxon 5331916
Recorded native range: Belgium, Brussels-Capital Region, Flanders, Flemish Region, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Walloon Region
Recorded as introduced in: Argentina Northeast, Azores, Colorado, Connecticut, Cyprus, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Ohio and 6 further regions
Ranges are exactly as recorded in the GBIF source checklists and may be incomplete for widely cultivated species.
Betula pendula, the silver birch, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae It is native to Europe, Morocco, temperate Asia, Canada, and Alaska, although in southern Europe and Morocco it is only found at higher elevations. Its range extends into Siberia, China, and southwest Asia in the mountains of northern Turkey, the Caucasus, and northern Iran. It has also been called warty birch from the warty twigs, and (particularly for selected strongly pendulous cultivars) weeping birch; in Korea it has been cited as East Asian white birch, though this can also refer to Betula platyphylla. It has been introduced into North America, where it is sometimes known as European white birch, and is considered invasive in some states in the United States and parts of Canada.
Description from Wikipedia — Betula pendula (CC BY-SA), shortened and unedited in substance.
Native status and geographic context
- United Kingdom: native
- United States: climate-suitable
- Australia: climate-suitable
Native status is never inferred from climate similarity. Plants restricted or invasive in a jurisdiction are excluded from recommendations there.
Demonstration data. Climate, plant and retailer records shown here are realistic samples awaiting horticultural validation and live data connections.