Betula lenta not resistant to deer browsing. Betula lenta Betula lenta (sweet birch, also known as black birch, cherry birch, mahogany birch, or spice birch) is a species of birch native to eastern North America, from southern Maine west to southernmost Ontario, and south in the Appalachian Mountains to northern Georgia. "Betula lenta" is a medium-sized deciduous tree reaching tall, exceptionally to with a trunk up to diameter. In younger trees the bark is characteristic of most birches, with smooth bark and distinct horizontal lenticels. It is sometimes mistakenly identified as a cherry tree. In older tree specimens the bark (unlike the
Chrysolepis three sweet, edible nuts, eaten by the indigenous peoples. The fruit also provides food for birds and wildlife. "Chrysolepis" is related to the subtropical southeast Asian genus "Castanopsis" (in which it was formerly included), but differs in the nuts being triangular and fully enclosed in a sectioned cupule, and in having bisexual catkins. "Chrysolepis" also differs from another allied genus "Castanea" (chestnuts), in nuts that take 14–16 months to mature (3–5 months in "Castanea"), evergreen leaves and the shoots having a terminal bud. There are two species of "Chrysolepis" — "Chrysolepis chrysophylla" and "Chrysolepis sempervirens" — which like many species