Betula chinensis

Dwarf small-leaf birch birch is a member of the birch or Betulaceae family and is native to China and Korea at an elevation of 700–1300 meters. It is generally a shrub, reaching up to only 5 m in height.

• Leaves are small, alternate, simple, ovate, rounded at the base, pointed, irregular or doubly serrate margins, 1.5–6 cm long and 1–5 cm across, petiole 0.2-2 cm long; veins are in 7–10 pairs; upper surface is dull dark green, sprinkled with silky hairs; silky-hairy beneath (mostly on the veins). Leaves turn yellow in the fall.
• Species is monoecious; male (staminate) flowers are drooping catkins up to 10 cm long; female (pistillate) flowers form erect, oval yellowish-green oblong catkins up to 2 cm long, turning dark brown in the fall, disintegrating in the winter and dispersing their seeds.
• Twigs are reddish brown, brown or yellow-brown, hairy; buds are ovoid, pointed.