Betula occidentalis

Water birch, Water Birch

Family: Betulaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Water birch is a California native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, high Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Great Basin, and Desert Mountains along streamsides and springs at elevations of 600 to 2,900 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces small flowers with distinctive red-brown to black bark and twigs covered in large, noticeable resin glands. Growing with multiple trunks up to 10 meters tall, it develops an intriguing branching structure with hairy, gland-covered stems. Its leaves are wide-ovate, 2 to 5 centimeters long, with a base that ranges from nearly truncate to tapered, and feature glands especially prominent on the upper leaf surface. The plant's pistillate inflorescences are 3 to 5 centimeters long, with bracts delicately fringed with fine hairs.

Habitat: Streamsides, springs

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: 600-2900 m

Bioregions: KR, CaRH, SNH, GB, DMtns

California counties: Inyo, Mono, San Diego, Modoc, Siskiyou, Fresno, Sacramento, Tulare, El Dorado, Alpine, Shasta, Humboldt, Plumas, San Mateo

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.