Silver or Downy?

[Welsh Dragon]

I only found out recently that there was a Downy Birch that looked very similar to Silver Birch.
Would I be right in thinking that the trees with the drooping branches at the end would be Silver and the one with the more erect branches are Downy?

I'm interested if there are other ways to tell since they aren't in leaf this time of year yet, The reason I ask is that I heard that Downy has the better bark for kindling.



Thanks

Brian

 

[JonnyP]

Not sure on the answer, but some birches are a lot whiter than the others, so maybe that is the way of telling the difference.....?

 

[billycan]

The easiest ID feature is the leaves. Betula pendula which is ordinary silver birch has smooth leaves, whereas downy birch Betula pubescens leaves have a sort of fine furry fluff on them.

 

[desert_emperor]

When it come to tree identification i normally use this website:

http://www.the-tree.org.uk

Its pretty comprehensive. Other than that i carry about my Collins Gem Trees book!

All the best....Paul

 

[bambodoggy]

The easiest ID feature is the leaves. Betula pendula which is ordinary silver birch has smooth leaves, whereas downy birch Betula pubescens leaves have a sort of fine furry fluff on them.

Add to the above the more major splitting (and so darkening) of the lower trunk on a Silver and it's not so hard to tell.

Also bear in mind that these things do hybreed a fair bit and this can make ID much harder

Cheers,

Bam.

 

[Welsh Dragon]

Thanks for the tips guys :You_Rock_

My Collins Gem "Trees" book didn't give that much detail on the differences between the two species....now I think I should be able to spot the difference