Asian black birch
Betula davurica · Betulaceae · 물박달나무
How to spot it
Differs from the white-barked birch (jakbnamu) in that the gray-brown bark cracks finely and falls off in thin pieces.
Look
- Leaves
- Ovate, 3 to 8 cm long and 3 to 5 cm wide, doubly toothed; the underside is yellow-green with many resin dots, and 7 to 8 pairs of lateral veins stand out.
- Flowers
- Blooms in May in catkins; male catkins hang down and female catkins are upright cylinders.
- Fruit
- The fruit spike is cylindrical, 2 to 4 cm long. The nutlet is oval and pale reddish brown, about 4 mm wide including the wings. It ripens in late September and falls in October.
- Bark
- Bark is gray-brown or gray with white dots, cracks finely and falls in thin pieces; it burns well even when wet.
Where it grows
- In Korea
- Native
- Native to
- Russian Far East, Mongolia, Japan and China; in Korea mostly along the Baekdudaegan but found nationwide.
- Ecology
- Grows well in sunny moist or somewhat dry places on the foothills and mid-slopes of deep mountains and mountain areas. Sun-loving but also grows in partial shade; very cold-hardy but weak against pollution and does not adapt well to city centers.