Betula occidentalis odorless when scraped. The leaves are alternate, ovate to rhombic, long and broad, with a serrated margin and two to six pairs of veins, and a short petiole up to long. The flowers are wind-pollinated catkins long, the male catkins pendulous, the female catkins erect. The fruit is long and broad, composed of numerous tiny winged seeds packed between the catkin bracts. The identity of similar birches in Alaska is disputed; some include them in "B. occidentalis", while others regard them as hybrids between "Betula neoalaskana" and "Betula glandulosa". Some Plateau Indian tribes used water birch to treat pimples and
Northern Hemisphere to draw air toward it in a counter-clockwise pattern. Hurricanes and tropical storms (massive low-pressure systems) spin counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. The shadow of a sundial moves clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere (opposite of the Southern Hemisphere). During the day, the Sun tends to rise to its maximum at a southerly position except between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator, where the sun can be seen to the north, directly overhead, or to the south at noon dependent on the time of year. When viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, the Moon appears inverted compared to a view from