PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Betula occidentalis
	Foliage
Conservation status
	; Secure (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Fagales
Family:	Betulaceae
Genus:	Betula
Subgenus:	Betula subg. Betula
Species:	B. occidentalis
Binomial name
	Betula occidentalis; Hook.
	Natural range of Betula occidentalis
Synonyms
	B. fontinalis Sarg.;

Betula occidentalis, the water birch or red birch, is a species of birch native to western North America, in Canada from Yukon east to Northwestern Ontario and southwards, and in the United States from eastern Washington east to western North Dakota,^{[citation needed]} and south to eastern California, northern Arizona and northern New Mexico, and southwestern Alaska. It typically occurs along streams in mountainous regions,^[1] sometimes at elevations of 2,100 metres (6,900 feet) and in drier areas than paper birch.^[2]

It is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 14 m (46 ft) high, up to 25 centimetres (10 inches) thick.^[2] It tends toward epicormic growth, with many small limbs sprouting from the trunk and causing the wood to be full of small knots. The bark is dark red-brown to blackish,^[2] and smooth but not exfoliating. The twigs are glabrous or thinly hairy, and odorless when scraped. The leaves are alternate, ovate to rhombic, 1–7 cm (1⁄2–2+3⁄4 in) long and 1–4.5 cm (1⁄2–1+3⁄4 in) broad, with a serrated margin and two to six pairs of veins, and a short petiole up to 1.5 cm (1⁄2 in) long. The flowers are wind-pollinated catkins 2–4 cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄2 in) long, the male catkins pendulous, the female catkins erect. The fruit is 2–3 cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄4 in) long and 8–15 millimetres (1⁄4–1⁄2 in) broad, composed of numerous tiny winged seeds packed between the catkin bracts.^[1]^[3]^[4]

The identity of similar birches in Alaska is disputed; some include them in B. occidentalis, while others regard them as hybrids between Betula neoalaskana and Betula glandulosa.^[1] A 2023 study sequenced chloroplast genomes of species from the genus Betula for phylogenetic analysis. Of the Betula species, B. occidentalis was most closely related to B. pendula purple rain and B. platyphylla.^[5]