Betula alleghaniensis colored, peeling bark of yellow birch. For young trees where bark has not yet developed, yellow birch can also be identified by its hairy buds and stems; sweet birch has hairless buds. The yellow birch was first described by François André Michaux in 1812 as "Betula lutea". In 1904, Nathaniel Lord Britton described what he considered to be a new closely related species of birch as "Betula alleghaniensis", differing from "B. lutea" by its shorter fruiting scales and mostly cordate (vs. rarely cordate) leaf bases. After comparing the descriptions and illustrations of "B. lutea" and "B. alleghaniensis", Merritt Fernald found
Betula utilis from snowmelt, rather than from the monsoon rains. They often have very bent growth due to the pressure of the deep winter snow in the Himalaya. Leaves are ovate, long, with serrated margins, and slightly hairy. Flowering occurs from May–July, with only a few male catkins, and short, single (sometimes paired) female catkins. The perianth has four parts in male flowers, and is absent in the female flowers. Fruits ripen in September–October. The thin, papery bark is very shiny, reddish brown, reddish white, or white, with horizontal lenticels. The bark peels off in broad, horizontal belts, making it very usable