Scrub Birch

Betula glandulosa

Monoecious, deciduous shrubs 1-3 m. tall, the young branches puberulent, resinous with crystalline glands, the bark becoming reddish-brown, not peeling. Leaves alternate, leathery, the blades usually oval or oblong-elliptic, 1-2 cm. long, finely serrate, glandular on both surfaces, bright green and glabrous above, paler and usually pubescent beneath. Staminate catkins elongate and pendulous, 1-4 per cluster; pistillate catkins erect, 1-2.5 cm. long and 3-5 mm. thick, the naked flowers subtended by a 3-lobed bract, usually glabrous, the middle lobe narrower Samara oval in outline, usually glabrous above, the wings obscure. It grows in Alaska, south to the Sierra of California, east to Nevada and Colorado, and also to Newfoundland and New York. Stream banks, margins of marshes, lakes and bogs, and on alpine slopes.