Betula grossa long, yellow-brown, male catkins in early spring. . The species is considered closely related to the American birch "Betula lenta". Hardiness: RHS H4. Betula grossa Betula grossa, commonly known as Japanese cherry birch, is a species of birch native to Japan, where it grows naturally in mixed woodland on hill and mountain slopes in Honshu, Shikoku , and Kyushu. It was introduced to the West in 1896, but remains rare in cultivation. "Betula grossa" is conical in outline, but its most distinctive feature is its cherry-like bark, with horizontal stripes of reddish-grey becoming dark grey with age, exfoliating in thin
Crataegus Crataegus Crataegus (), commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, May-tree, whitethorn, or hawberry, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia and North America. The name "hawthorn" was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe, especially the common hawthorn "C. monogyna", and the unmodified name is often so used in Britain and Ireland. The name is now also applied to the entire genus and to the related Asian genus "Rhaphiolepis". The Latin name "Crataegus" is from the Greek "kratos" "strength" and "akis" "sharp", referring