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Door to Nature: ‘The Lady of the Woods’

One of my favorite native trees is the paper birch, or what some call the white birch because it stands out in the landscape with its pure-white trunk. My late husband, Roy, and I used to admire the beauty of its bare branches against a clear, blue sky as we took our winter walks together.

Look at these conspicuous, majestic trees from a distance to see the beautiful, red cast that their young upper twigs have – a fine contrast with the stark, white trunks in late February. We used to enjoy parking near the top of a high hill overlooking a woods to try to identify as many tree species as we could by the color and shape of their winter crowns. The birches are among the easiest.

James Russell Lowell, in his poem “An Indian Summer Reverie,” described the birch as the “most shy and ladylike of trees.” Coleridge referred to this immaculate tree as “the lady of the woods.” Roy often mentioned that description while leading tour groups at The Ridges Sanctuary, but when one person asked why he called the birch “the lady of the woods,” Roy didn’t know the answer. A few minutes later, a wise man in the group said he knew: It was because “the paper birch is like a lady – always appealing!”

To the Ojibwe of our northern lakes region, the paper birch was known as “wigwas,” which became “wigwam” because birch bark was often used to cover the top of the small shelters, thereby furnishing them with a waterproof roof. 

The highly combustible bark is also good for starting fires, so Roy always kept sections of birch bark in a box next to the wood stove to help get the fire going. It works quite well even when wet.

If you run your hand over the trunk of a paper birch, you’ll feel its chalky, resin-like surface. Indeed, the bark, which is rich in resins and oils, is extremely waterproof and long lasting, so buckets, baskets and canoes were also produced from this splendid material. 

Examine a birch tree that fell to the ground some years ago. The wood inside will be soft and punky, but the bark will be in a surprisingly good state of preservation because of the resins and oils – it’s the last part of the tree to decay.

Some Native Americans used the roots of the birch as a seasoner in medicines because the sweetish, aromatic, wintergreen-like flavor disguised the less pleasant taste of the remedies. In strange contrast, white settlers dug up and dried the roots of goldthread plants – which have a very astringent, bitter flavor – and added them to many of their patent medicines, thinking that the more terrible the taste of the concoction, the better it would cure ailments. They might have been wise to go the more pleasant-tasting route, however, as Mary Poppins taught much later: “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”

Our hikes on top of the hard-crusted snow of the early February woods have revealed thousands of birch seeds – along with the very tiny, bird-like, cross-shaped “wings” to which the seeds were attached –  littering the ground beneath many of the tall, stately paper birches. On several occasions, we were able to spot the birds that had caused this rain of seeds: Pine siskins, common redpolls and American goldfinches find birch seeds to be among their favorites. Ruffed grouse are also known to eat the buds, catkins and seeds of these trees.

The paper birch, Betula (BET-you-la, the ancient Latin name of a birch) papyrifera (pa-pi-RIF-er-a, alluding to its paper-like qualities), is truly a tree of the north because no broad-leaved tree is hardier. In fact, they are said to be the only tree native to Greenland and Iceland, and they grow to about 66 degrees north latitude on this continent. Seven states – Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Maine, Connecticut, Vermont and New York – have many millions growing, and Canada boasts mile after mile of these beauties.

An outstanding example of one of its growth requirements can be seen in hilly regions of its range, especially here at around 45 degrees north latitude: The steep northern slopes have many birches, but relatively few grow on the southern slopes. One theory is that the destructive bronze birch borer thrives on the warmer, south-facing slopes and cannot tolerate the cooler north slopes.

Enjoy your winter hikes in Door County’s forests, parks and preserves. Give a gentle stroke to the resinous bark of the next “lady of the woods” that you meet, and appreciate the beauty of this native tree.