Betula glandulosa to tall, often forming dense thickets. The trunks are slender, rarely over diameter, with smooth, dark brown bark. The leaves are nearly circular to oval, long and broad, with a toothed margin. The fruiting catkins are erect, long and broad. It is closely related to the dwarf birch ("Betula nana"), and is sometimes treated as a subspecies of it, as "B. nana" subsp. "glandulosa". It is distinguished from typical "B. nana" by the presence of glandular warts on the shoots and longer leaf petioles. Hybrids with several other birches occur. Betula glandulosa Betula glandulosa, the American dwarf birch, also known
Betula utilis from snowmelt, rather than from the monsoon rains. They often have very bent growth due to the pressure of the deep winter snow in the Himalaya. Leaves are ovate, long, with serrated margins, and slightly hairy. Flowering occurs from May–July, with only a few male catkins, and short, single (sometimes paired) female catkins. The perianth has four parts in male flowers, and is absent in the female flowers. Fruits ripen in September–October. The thin, papery bark is very shiny, reddish brown, reddish white, or white, with horizontal lenticels. The bark peels off in broad, horizontal belts, making it very usable