Betula alleghaniensis

Yellow birch is a member of the birch or Betulaceae family and is native to eastern North America, in the U.S. from the states on the southern portion of the Great Lakes, eastward to Nova Scotia and the eastern tip of Newfoundland in Canada and then south to the Alleghany Mountains in the U.S. It reaches up to 25 m in height.

• Leaves are alternate, simple, broad, ovate-oblong, acute tip, doubly serrate margins, up to 10 cm long and 5 cm across, toothed, slightly narrower and longer than B. occidentalis or B. papyrifera.
• Species is monoecious; male (staminate) flowers are drooping catkins up to 10 cm long; female (pistillate) flowers form erect reddish-green oblong catkins, up to 2 cm long, turning dark brown in the fall, disintegrating in the winter and dispersing their seeds.
• Twigs and leaves have a distinct wintergreen fragrance when crushed; buds are ovoid, pointed.
• Oblong female catkins are up to 2 cm long.
• Bark on younger trees is shiny bronze; on older trees it becomes yellow-brown, peeling horizontally.