Western Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Betula glandulosa Michx.
- Family: Birch (Betulaceae)
- Flowering: April-June
- Field Marks: This birch is characterized by its shrubby growth form, its thick leaves rarely more than 1 inch long, and the resinous, wart-like glands on its twigs.
- Habitat: Bogs, fens, along streams, sometimes in shallow, standing water.
- Habit: Upright or sometimes prostrate shrub.
- Twigs: Upright or prostrate, smooth except for wart-like, resin-producing glands.
- Bark: Brown, not peeling.
- Leaves: Alternate, simple, orbicular to obovate, rarely more than 1 inch long, up to 3/4 inch wide, rounded at the tip, rounded or tapering at the base, thick, toothed, smooth and shiny on the upper surface, glandular-dotted on the lower surface
- Flowers: Crowded together into spikes, the male spikes borne separately from the female but on the same plant; male spikes up to 1/2 inch long; female spikes longer and thicker.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 2.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Fruits: Nutlets with a pair of obscure wings.
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