Betula albosinensis
Red China birch (Betula albosinensis )
The Red China birch (Betula albosinensis ) or Chinese birch is a small deciduous tree of the genus of birch trees in the birch family ( Betulaceae ). The distribution area is located in several provinces of China.
Description
The China Red Birch is a 10 to 20 meter high tree with a loose, broad, conical, irregular crown, whitish pink to rotorangefärbiger, mostly white frosted and rolling off in large, thin shreds of bark. The shoots are initially glandular hairy, but verkahlen and later turn brown. The leaves are ovate to oblong- ovate, 3-8 cm long and 2-5 cm wide, usually with a rounded base, long sharpened and irregularly doubly serrated edge. Each sheet can be formed 10 to 14 pairs of nerves that are hairy in young leaves on the underside of leaves. The petiole is 0.6 to 2 inches long, the fall color is yellow. As a female inflorescences kittens are usually solitary (rarely in twos and threes ) standing, 2 to 4 inches long, cylindrical, ovoid, formed. The fruit scales are bare, the lateral lobes projecting and much shorter than the middle lobe. The fruits are ovoid, 2-3 mm large nutlets with membranous wings. The species flowers from May to June and the fruits ripen from July to August.
Distribution and ecology
The distribution area is located in the Chinese provinces of Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Sichuan. Where it grows in species-poor forests and copses of the temperate zone at altitudes 1000-3400 meters on dry to moderately moist, acidic to slightly alkaline, sandy, humus-rich soils in sunny locations. The species is frost hardy.
Systematics and history of research
The Red China birch (Betula albosinensis ) is a species from the genus of birch (Betula ) in the birch family ( Betulaceae ). The first description was in 1899 by Isaac Henry Burkill in the Journal of the Linnean Society. Botany. London. There are two varieties:
- Betula albosinensis var sinensis, the type species
- Betula albosinensis var septentrionalis higher stature, darker and stumpferer bark, more glandular young shoots, more elongated leaves and silky hairy veins on the underside of leaves. It is more commonly used in culture as the type species.
Use
The hard and dense wood with pink to reddish -brown heartwood is used for numerous purposes. The species is frequently used due to the remarkable fall color as an ornamental tree.