Silviculture of birch (Betula pendula Roth and Betula pubescens Ehrh.) in northern Europe

Abstract

In Europe, two commercially important treelike birch species occur naturally: silver birch ( Betula pendula Roth) and downy birch ( Betula pubescens Ehrh.). Both species have a wide natural distribution area on the Eurasian continent, ranging from the Atlantic to eastern Siberia. Although birches occur throughout almost the whole of Europe, the most abundant birch resources are in the temperate and boreal forests of Northern Europe. In the Baltic and Nordic countries, the proportion of birch out of the total volume of the growing stock varies between 11 and 28 per cent. In Northern Europe, birch is commercially the most important broadleaved tree species.