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The Downy, Hairy or Common White Birch is an upright native tree with pale grey mature bark. It grows in any soil apart from chalk and especially likes damp sites. It has good autumn colour and its leaves support several species of butterfly caterpillar.
This tree is very similar to Silver Birch. The most obvious difference is that the young twigs of White Birch have downy hairs on them and feel smooth to the touch. The tree's canopy is also more upright and narrow than silver birch.
Betula pubescens is very fast-growing and makes a good screening tree up to about 20 metres.
Browse all of our Birch tree varieties.
It will grow on any soil that is not dry, but it really loves neutral to acidic conditions close to water, and it will probably struggle on shallow chalk, which tends to be pretty dry. It is very wind resistant, but not suitable for the coast.
In the past, birchbark was very valuable because it is oily, waterproof and flexible when heated. It was used to make all sorts of items related to water, from boats and buckets to roofs and hats. Birch was associated with fertility, and bundles of birch twigs were preferred in Medieval times to flog criminals. You will find birch twigs in a properly traditional Swedish sauna to lightly whip your back with, which is supposed to enhance your detox. Birchwood isn't that commercially valuable these days; it is mostly used for paper pulp and disposable things like toothpicks and matches. It burns well, if a little quickly.
Standard trees are measured by their girth in centimetres 1 metre above ground level: their trunk's waist measurement. Unlike sapling trees and hedge plants, standards aren't measured by their height, which will vary quite a bit both between and within species.
So, a 6/8cm standard tree has a trunk with a circumference of 6-8cm and an 8/10 standard has a trunk 8-10cm around. This measurement makes no difference to the tree's final height.
On average, standard trees are 2-3.5 metres tall when they arrive, but we cannot tell you precisely how tall your trees will be before we deliver them.