Betula alleghaniensis Betula alleghaniensis Betula alleghaniensis, the yellow birch or golden birch, is a large and important lumber species of birch native to North-eastern North America. Its vernacular names refer to the color of the tree's bark. The name "Betula lutea" was used expansively for this tree but has now been replaced. "Betula alleghaniensis" is the provincial tree of Quebec, where it is commonly called "merisier", a name which in France is used for the wild cherry. It is a medium-sized, typically single stemmed, deciduous tree reaching tall (exceptionally to ) with a trunk typically in diameter. Yellow birch is a relatively
Betula lenta vertical cracks into irregular scaly plates revealing rough dark brown bark patterns. This, however, only occurs in mature, or ancient, trees and these specimens are not often identified by the public as "B. lenta" due to the difference between the tree's smooth young bark (which the public is most familiar with) and the tree's rough, cracked and plated mature bark. The twigs, when scraped, have a strong scent of wintergreen due to methyl salicylate, which is produced in the bark. The leaves are alternate, ovate, long and broad, with a finely serrated margin. The flowers are wind-pollinated catkins long, the