Betula pendula (as "B. oycoviensis") was previously listed on the Red List as vulnerable, though it is now considered a synonym of "Betula pendula" subsp. "pendula". "Betula szaferi" was previously considered extinct in the wild on the Red List, but is now considered a form of "B. pendula" with the presence of a mutant gene, causing it to grow weakly and fruit heavily. Silver birch is often planted in parks and gardens, grown for its white bark and gracefully drooping shoots, sometimes even in warmer-than-optimum places such as Los Angeles and Sydney. In Scandinavia and other regions of northern Europe, it is
Betula pendula continues from a lateral bud. The species is monoecious with male and female catkins found in the same tree. Some shoots are long and bear the male catkins at the tip, while others are short and bear female catkins. The immature male catkins are present during the winter but the female catkins develop in the spring, soon after the leaves unfurl. The leaves have short slender stalks and are long, triangular with broad, untoothed, wedge-shaped bases, slender pointed tips and coarsely double-toothed, serrated margins. They are sticky with resin at first but this dries as they age leaving small white