Happy Mystery Monday! Can you guess what is pictured in photo #1?
The answer to last week’s mystery is the river birch, Betula nigra, pictured in photo #2.
Found across the eastern and central United States, the river birch, Betula nigra, is the southernmost of all native birches, and the only one that naturally grows at low elevations. Its shimmering, peeling bark is one of its most recognizable features. This exfoliation is a natural process that helps the tree shed pests, disease organisms, and other hitchhikers like lichens, mosses, and fungi.
More heat-tolerant and disease-resistant than any other birch, the river birch thrives along streambanks, floodplains, and other moist sites where it helps stabilize soil and reduce erosion. In exceptionally dry conditions, river birch may drop some of its leaves as a water-saving strategy. In cultivation, it can be trained as a single trunk or a multi-trunked specimen—both forms showing off that distinctive bark.
The river birch is also notable for what it doesn’t suffer from: it’s the only North American birch naturally resistant to the destructive bronze birch borer. However, it is a “bleeder,” and pruning or accidental wounds cause sap to flow freely, attracting insects, some of which become stuck in the sticky drips. Late Spring flowering rounds out the appeal of this adaptable, resilient native tree.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.
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