Betula nigra
Details Top
| Internal ID | UUID643ff0e84cc3c700226742 |
| Scientific name | Betula nigra |
| Authority | L. |
| First published in | Sp. Pl. : 982 (1753) |
General Uses Top
Suggest a correction!Wood and fiber:
Betula nigra is used as a minor component in pulp and paper making, typically as a hardwood in kraft or chemi-thermomechanical pulping for grades such as linerboard and containerboard, as well as in certain specialty paper products. The wood’s medium density and relatively high cellulose content make it suitable for these processes. Small dimensions and susceptibility to decay limit sawn-lumber use, but the species is employed in rough lumber, dimension stock, crates, pallets, and other utility applications, often in lower-value markets. The wood yields bast fibers when processed with appropriate equipment and is used as mulch and compost. Thin, papery outer bark can be employed for simple wrapping and craft applications.
Food and beverages (non-medicinal):
Syrup and sugar: In North America, B. nigra is tapped for sap, which is processed into syrup and sugar, similar to other birches. Processing involves sap collection, concentration by reverse osmosis and/or evaporation, and crystallization, yielding birch syrup and birch sugar.
Fragrance and cosmetics:
Syrup flavoring: Birch syrup is used as a flavoring in specialty foods, desserts, and beverages; it provides characteristic sweet–sour notes distinct from maple syrup. No health or wellness claims are made. Aroma compounds in the sap (e.g., esters) contribute to the flavor profile.
Properties relevant to use:
The wood has a medium density and modest mechanical properties, compatible with pulp and utility applications. The sap contains sugars and soluble aromatics enabling syrup production. High sap yields per tapping are not typically reported for this species relative to sugar maple or paper birch; the species is generally described as less commonly tapped.
Scientific/model-organism use:
The species is widely planted in restoration and research, and it has been used in genetic, physiological, and horticultural studies examining adaptation, growth, and forest ecosystem processes. Such studies often reference standardized horticultural and ecological protocols and may use population genetics or environmental response datasets.
Sustainability and sourcing:
B. nigra occurs naturally across much of the eastern and central United States and is widely available from natural stands and plantations. It is categorized as stable to increasing in conservation assessments. Harvests occur within national and state forestry regulations, with conservation measures to protect riparian habitats. Chain-of-custody considerations for pulp and furniture markets follow general hardwood trade rules. No explicit standards or labeling regimes are specific to this species.
Synonyms Top
| Scientific name | Authority | First published in |
|---|---|---|
| Betula americana | Buc'hoz | Herb. Color. Amérique : t. CIX (1783) |
| Betula lanulosa | Michx. | Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 181 (1803) |
| Betula rubra | Michx. | Hist. Arbr. Forest. 2: 143 (1811) |
| Betula nigra var. parvifolia | Regel | Nouv. Mém. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 13(2): 120. 1861 |
| Betula rupestris | Raf. | W. Rev. & Misc. Mag. 1: 228 (1819) |
| Betula nigra unranked pendula | Paul | Handb. Villa Gard. : 107 (1855) |
Common names Top
Add a new one! Suggest a correction!| Language | Common/alternative name |
|---|---|
| English | water birch |
| English | black birch |
| English | red birch |
| English | river birch |
| Spanish | abedul de agua |
| Spanish | abedul fluvial |
| Spanish | abedul negro |
| Spanish | abedul negro americano |
| Azerbaijani | qara tozağacı |
| azb | قارا توز آغاجی |
| ba | Ҡара ҡайын |
| Bulgarian | черна бреза |
| Czech | bříza černá |
| German | schwarz-birke |
| German | fluss-birke |
| Esperanto | nigra betulo |
| Persian | توس سیاه |
| Finnish | mustakoivu |
| French | bouleau noir |
| Hungarian | fekete nyír |
| Indonesian | birken hitam |
| Icelandic | svartbjörk |
| koi | Сьӧд кыдз |
| Norwegian Bokmål | svartbjørk |
| Dutch | zwarte berk |
| Dutch | rode berk |
| Norwegian Nynorsk | svartbjørk |
| Polish | brzoza nadrzeczna |
| Portuguese | bétula preta |
| Portuguese | bétula de rio |
| Portuguese | bétula de água |
| Russian | Берёза чёрная |
| Russian | Берёза речная |
| Russian | Береза речная |
| Swedish | svartbjörk |
| Turkish | kara huş |
| udm | Сьӧд кызьпу |
| Chinese | 河桦 |
| Chinese | 河樺 |
| Chinese | 水樺 |
Germination/Propagation Top
Suggest a correction or add new data!
No germination or propagation data was added yet.
Distribution (via POWO/KEW) Top
Legend for the distribution data:
- Doubtful data
- Extinct
- Introduced
- Native
-
Northern America click to expand
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North-central U.S.A.
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Oklahoma
- Wisconsin
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Northeastern U.S.A.
- Connecticut
- Indiana
- Massachusetts
- New Jersey
- New York
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- West Virginia
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South-central U.S.A.
- Texas
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Southeastern U.S.A.
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- Delaware
- District Of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Mississippi
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Virginia
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North-central U.S.A.
Links to other databases Top
Suggest others/fix!| Database | ID/link to page |
|---|---|
| World Flora Online | wfo-0000334917 |
| UNII | 77HE8KUQ5Q |
| Florida Plant Atlas | 3928 |
| Flora of Alabama | 1154 |
| Cornell Woody Plants | 33 |
| USDA Plants | BENI |
| UConn | 63 |
| Tropicos | 3600067 |
| KEW | urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:295155-1 |
| The Plant List | kew-21527 |
| Missouri Botanical Garden | 277830 |
| PaleoBotany | 122411 |
| Open Tree Of Life | 267696 |
| NCBI Taxonomy | 3508 |
| NBN Atlas | NBNSYS0000042066 |
| Nature Serve | 2.160835 |
| IUCN Red List | 194551 |
| IPNI | 295155-1 |
| iNaturalist | 117429 |
| GBIF | 5331532 |
| Freebase | /m/02cw8f |
| WisFlora | 2737 |
| FEIS | plants/tree/betnig |
| EPPO | BETNI |
| EOL | 1149380 |
| US Library of Congress | sh85013487 |
| USDA GRIN | 7118 |
| Wikipedia | Betula_nigra |
Genomes (via NCBI) Top
No reference genome is available on NCBI yet. We are constantly monitoring for new data.
Scientific Literature Top
Below are displayed the latest 15 articles published in PMC (PubMed Central®) and other sources (DOI number only)!
If you wish to see all the related articles click here.
If you wish to see all the related articles click here.
| Title | Authors | Publication | Released | IDs | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commodity risk assessment of Tilia cordata and Tilia platyphyllos plants from the UK | Bragard C, Baptista P, Chatzivassiliou E, Di Serio F, Jaques Miret JA, Justesen AF, MacLeod A, Magnusson CS, Milonas P, Navas‐Cortes JA, Parnell S, Potting R, Reignault PL, Stefani E, Thulke H, Van der Werf W, Vicent Civera A, Yuen J, Zappalà L, Battisti A, Mas H, Rigling D, Faccoli M, Mikulová A, Mosbach‐Schulz O, Stergulc F, Streissl F, Gonthier P | EFSA J | 03-May-2024 |
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| Impacts of Invasive Plants on Native Vegetation Communities in Wetland and Stream Mitigation | DeBerry DA, Hunter DM | Biology (Basel) | 18-Apr-2024 |
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| Lignin-Based Hydrogels for the Delivery of Bioactive Chaga Mushroom Extract | Nagardeolekar A, Dongre P, Bujanovic BM | Polymers (Basel) | 14-Mar-2024 |
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| Commodity risk assessment of Corylus avellana plants from the UK | Bragard C, Baptista P, Chatzivassiliou E, Di Serio F, Jaques Miret JA, Justesen AF, MacLeod A, Magnusson CS, Milonas P, Navas‐Cortes JA, Parnell S, Potting R, Reignault PL, Stefani E, Thulke H, Van der Werf W, Civera AV, Yuen J, Zappalà L, Battisti A, Mas H, Rigling D, Faccoli M, Mikulová A, Mosbach‐Schulz O, Stergulc F, Streissl F, Gonthier P | EFSA J | 12-Jan-2024 |
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| Commodity risk assessment of Quercus petraea plants from the UK | Bragard C, Baptista P, Chatzivassiliou E, Di Serio F, Jaques Miret JA, Justesen AF, MacLeod A, Magnusson CS, Milonas P, Navas‐Cortes JA, Parnell S, Potting R, Reignault PL, Stefani E, Thulke H, Van der Werf W, Vicent Civera A, Yuen J, Zappalà L, Battisti A, Mas H, Rigling D, Faccoli M, Iacopetti G, Mikulová A, Mosbach‐Schulz O, Stergulc F, Streissl F, Gonthier P | EFSA J | 30-Oct-2023 |
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| Commodity risk assessment of Quercus robur plants from the UK | Bragard C, Baptista P, Chatzivassiliou E, Di Serio F, Jaques Miret JA, Justesen AF, MacLeod A, Magnusson CS, Milonas P, Navas‐Cortes JA, Parnell S, Potting R, Reignault PL, Stefani E, Thulke H, Van der Werf W, Vicent Civera A, Yuen J, Zappalà L, Battisti A, Mas H, Rigling D, Faccoli M, Iacopetti G, Mikulová A, Mosbach‐Schulz O, Stergulc F, Streissl F, Gonthier P | EFSA J | 30-Oct-2023 |
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| The most polyphagous insect herbivore? Host plant associations of the Meadow spittlebug, Philaenus spumarius (L.) | Thompson V, Harkin C, Stewart AJ | PLoS One | 04-Oct-2023 |
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| Allometric relationships for eight species of 4–5 year old nitrogen-fixing and non-fixing trees | Carreras Pereira KA, Wolf AA, Kou-Giesbrecht S, Akana PR, Funk JL, Menge DN | PLoS One | 21-Aug-2023 |
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| Commodity risk assessment of Fagus sylvatica plants from the UK | Bragard C, Baptista P, Chatzivassiliou E, Di Serio F, Jaques Miret JA, Justesen AF, MacLeod A, Magnusson CS, Milonas P, Navas‐Cortes JA, Parnell S, Potting R, Reignault PL, Stefani E, Thulke H, Van der Werf W, Vicent Civera A, Yuen J, Zappalà L, Battisti A, Mas H, Rigling D, Faccoli M, Gardi C, Iacopetti G, Mikulová A, Mosbach‐Schulz O, Stergulc F, Streissl F, Gonthier P | EFSA J | 28-Jul-2023 |
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| Commodity risk assessment of Acer campestre plants from the UK | Bragard C, Baptista P, Chatzivassiliou E, Di Serio F, Jaques Miret JA, Justesen AF, MacLeod A, Magnusson CS, Milonas P, Navas‐Cortes JA, Parnell S, Potting R, Reignault PL, Stefani E, Thulke H, Van der Werf W, Vicent Civera A, Yuen J, Zappalà L, Battisti A, Mas H, Rigling D, Faccoli M, Gardi C, Iacopetti G, Mikulová A, Mosbach‐Schulz O, Stergulc F, Streissl F, Gonthier P | EFSA J | 06-Jul-2023 |
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| The potential climatic range of spotted lanternfly may be broader than previously predicted | Keena MA, Hamilton G, Kreitman D | Front Insect Sci | 30-Jan-2023 |
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| The impact of host plant species on instar duration and body weight of nymphal Lycorma delicatula | Kreitman D, Keena MA, Nielsen AL, Hamilton G | Front Insect Sci | 19-Jan-2023 |
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| Impacts of short-term feeding by spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) on ecophysiology of young hardwood trees in a common garden | Lavely E, Iavorivska L, Uyi O, Eissenstat DM, Walsh B, Primka EJ IV, Harper J, Hoover K | Front Insect Sci | 07-Dec-2022 |
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| Development of rearing methodology for the invasive Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) | Nixon LJ, Jones S, Dechaine AC, Ludwick D, Hickin M, Sullivan L, Elsensohn JE, Gould J, Keena M, Kuhar T, Pfeiffer DG, Leskey TC | Front Insect Sci | 21-Sep-2022 |
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| Drone-based investigation of natural restoration of vegetation in the water level fluctuation zone of cascade reservoirs in Jinsha River | Jiang W, Li W, Zhou J, Wang P, Xiao H | Sci Rep | 28-Jul-2022 |
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Phytochemical Profile Top
Add a new one!
Below are displayed the proven (via scientific papers) natural compounds!
You can also contribute to this by clicking here.
You can also contribute to this by clicking here.
| Name | PubChem ID | Canonical SMILES | MW | Found in | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| > Phenylpropanoids and polyketides / Flavonoids / Flavones | |||||
| Apigenin | 5280443 | Click to see C1=CC(=CC=C1C2=CC(=O)C3=C(C=C(C=C3O2)O)O)O | 270.24 | unknown | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9422(00)86815-6 |
| > Phenylpropanoids and polyketides / Flavonoids / Flavones / Flavonols | |||||
| Isorhamnetin | 5281654 | Click to see | 316.26 | unknown | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9422(00)86815-6 |
| Rhamnocitrin | 5320946 | Click to see | 300.26 | unknown | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9422(00)86815-6 |
| > Phenylpropanoids and polyketides / Flavonoids / Flavonoid glycosides / Flavonoid O-glycosides / Flavonoid-3-O-glycosides | |||||
| 2-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-5,7-dihydroxy-3-[(2S,3R,4S,5S,6R)-3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-[[(2R,3S,4S,5R,6S)-3,4,5-trihydroxy-6-methyloxan-2-yl]oxymethyl]oxan-2-yl]oxychromen-4-one | 125528541 | Click to see | 610.50 | unknown | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9422(00)86815-6 |
| > Phenylpropanoids and polyketides / Flavonoids / Flavonoid glycosides / Flavonoid O-glycosides / Flavonoid-7-O-glycosides | |||||
| Luteolin 7-O-glucoside | 5280637 | Click to see C1=CC(=C(C=C1C2=CC(=O)C3=C(C=C(C=C3O2)OC4C(C(C(C(O4)CO)O)O)O)O)O)O | 448.40 | unknown | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9422(00)86815-6 |
| > Phenylpropanoids and polyketides / Flavonoids / O-methylated flavonoids / 3-O-methylated flavonoids | |||||
| Isokaempferide | 5280862 | Click to see | 300.26 | unknown | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9422(00)86815-6 |
| > Phenylpropanoids and polyketides / Flavonoids / O-methylated flavonoids / 6-O-methylated flavonoids | |||||
| Hispidulin | 5281628 | Click to see | 300.26 | unknown | https://doi.org/10.1515/ZNC-1991-5-621 |
| > Phenylpropanoids and polyketides / Flavonoids / O-methylated flavonoids / 7-O-methylated flavonoids | |||||
| 5-Hydroxy-7,4'-dimethoxyflavone | 5281601 | Click to see | 298.29 | unknown | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9422(00)86815-6 |
| Kaempferol 3,7,4'-trimethyl ether | 5468749 | Click to see COC1=CC=C(C=C1)C2=C(C(=O)C3=C(C=C(C=C3O2)OC)O)OC | 328.30 | unknown | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9422(00)86815-6 |
| Pachypodol | 5281677 | Click to see | 344.30 | unknown | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9422(00)86815-6 |
| Retusin | 5352005 | Click to see COC1=C(C=C(C=C1)C2=C(C(=O)C3=C(C=C(C=C3O2)OC)O)OC)OC | 358.30 | unknown | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9422(00)86815-6 |
| Salvigenin | 161271 | Click to see | 328.30 | unknown | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-9422(00)86815-6 |
Collections Top
| In private collections | 0 |
| In public collections | 0 |