Chinese Red Birch

Description

Tree, 18-25 m; bark peeling, rather thin, orange or red-orange, young bark glaucous; young twigs glandular, pubescent, dark brown and glabrous when mature. Leaves 4-7 cm, narrowly ovate, apex acuminate, base rounded, irregularly biserrate, green tinged yellow above, paler beneath, hairy between veins when young, veins in 10-14 pairs, petiole 6-12mm, silky at first. Male catkins 4-6cm, females 25-37x8mm, solitary or rarely paired. Fruit catkins ovoid-cylindric, 3-4cm, pendulous; nutlets elliptic, 1x0.5mm, wing relatively broad. Zone 7.