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Betula pendula var. carelica
Also called Eurasian Weeping Birch, European Silver Birch, European Birch, European Weeping Birch, European White Birch, Silver Birch, Weeping Birch
Curly birch is a variety of silver birch with a genetic trait that makes its trunk and branches twist and curl, and its wood has a striking flame-like grain. It is a tree, not a houseplant, and it grows best in cool, open, sunny sites.
Curly birch (Betula pendula var. carelica) is a variant of the plant species silver birch (also known as warty birch, European white birch, or East Asian white birch) with a genetic defect that causes the tree to twist on the stem with curls. The annual rings are oriented incorrectly, which gives the wood a fiery appearance. The variant originally comes from Karelia in Finland and Russia. The curliness is passed on in up to 70% of all trees in the next generation. Common spring birch is also sometimes referred to as masur birch, but one should only use that term for trees that have the real curliness.
The curly birch is found naturally only in Europe and only in small separate areas. In Finland, it occurs naturally in Southern Finland up to the latitude of Jyväskylä, and especially in former swidden areas. In the other Nordic countries, curly birch occurs in parts of southern Sweden and in the most south-easterly parts of Norway. In addition to the above, curly birch is to be found in the Russia (Karelia, Ingria, and some other western areas), in the Baltic countries, and in Belarus. There also are scattered stands of curly birch in Central Europe. However, curly birch is most abundant in Finland and in the Karelia region of Russia.
Betula utilis subsp. albosinensis · Yellow birch · Erman's Birch · Betula gmelinii · Sweet birch · Monarch birch · Medwediew's Birch · River birch · Paper birch · Silver Birch · Downy Birch · Bakdal Birch
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Curly birch by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
