Betula forrestii (W. W. Sm.) Hand.-Mazz.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Betula forrestii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/betula/betula-forrestii/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Genus

Synonyms

  • B. delavayi var. forrestii W. W. Sm.

Glossary

acute
Sharply pointed.
apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
obtuse
Blunt.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Betula forrestii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/betula/betula-forrestii/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

A small tree to 40 or 50 ft, or a shrub, with a smooth, brown bark. Leaves with nine to fourteen pairs of veins, ovate or oblong-ovate, up to 3 in. long, obtuse or somewhat rounded at the apex, silky on the upper surface and on the veins beneath; leaf-stalk to 13 in. long. Fruiting catkins 45 to 115 in. long; scales edged with silky hairs, the lateral lobes making a narrowly acute angle with the middle one and about one-third as long.

A native of Yunnan; discovered by Forrest in the Lichiang range in 1910. In the Edinburgh Botanic Garden there is an example 20 ft high from F. 15357, collected in 1918, and two others, 20 and 25 ft high, raised from seed sent by the Chinese collector Yü around 1937 (10561). These latter, Dr Fletcher tells us, are remarkable for their smooth, polished-looking, purplish-brown bark.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

The trees in the Edinburgh botanic garden mentioned under this species have been re-identified as B. albo-sinensis. It is uncertain whether the true species is in cultivation.