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
White-winged vampire bat White-winged vampire bat The white-winged vampire bat ("Diaemus youngi"), a species of vampire bat, is the only member of the genus Diaemus. They are found from Mexico to northern Argentina and are present on the islands of Trinidad and Margarita. The white-winged vampire bat was described by Dutch zoologist Fredericus Anna Jentink in 1893. Dr. Charles Grove Young (1849-1934) is the eponym for the species name "youngi". Jentink decided to honor Young with the species name because "our Museum is indebted [to him] for so many additions to its collections of the British Guyana animals." When it was described by