Paper Birch or White Birch

The paper birch grows from a seed carried by the wind. It is a large tree, attaining as much as 83 feet (25 metres) in height and 24 inches (60 centimetres) in diameter.

Although officially known as the paper birch, this tree is also called the white birch and the canoe birch. Indians made their canoes and coverings for their houses with its bark. It worked so well that white men imitated these practices for a long time. Paper birch bark is very strong and almost totally resistant to rot.

The paper birch reproduces by seed and by sucker plants. Suckers grow from the roots when the trunk has been cut off. Suckers produce pencil-sized cones that grouses love to eat.

The wood of the paper birch is soft, firm, and knot-free. It is used to make hundreds of food-related products, such as chopsticks, ice-cream sticks, toothpicks, and wooden spoons. Other uses include plywood and pulpwood.