Betula uber Betula uber Betula uber, Virginia round-leaf birch, is a rare species of tree in the birch family. One of the most endangered species of North American trees, it is endemic to Smyth County, in the U.S. state of Virginia. It is part of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome. The tree was first described in 1918 as a variety of "Betula lenta", and elevated to species status in 1945. It hybridizes with "B. lenta" and it has been suggested that it is actually a round-leaved mutant form of "B. lenta". Some authorities prefer to treat it as a variety.
Beech bark disease to spread to the south and west. The first case of beech bark disease in the United States was reported in 1929 in Massachusetts. By 2004, the disease had spread as far west as Michigan and as far south as western North Carolina. For beech bark disease to occur, two components are required, an insect and a fungus. The beech scale insect, "Cryptococcus fagisuga", is invasive to North America and is host-specific, feeding exclusively on beech trees. It can be observed on the trunk and limbs of the tree as woolly, white tufts that will later develop into broad strips.