Betula murrayana

B. V. Barnes & Dancik

Canad. J. Bot. 63: 226. 1985.

Common names: Murray's birch
Conservation concernEndemic
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 3.

Trees, to 15 m; trunks usually several. Bark of mature trunk and branches dark red to reddish-brown, smooth, close; lenticels pale, conspicuous, horizontally expanded. Twigs with taste and odor of wintergreen when crushed, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, covered with small resinous glands. Leaf-blade ovate with 7–10 pairs of lateral-veins, 5–11 × 3–6 cm, base cuneate, margins sharply and obscurely doubly serrate, apex acute or only slightly acuminate; surfaces abaxially sparsely pubescent to glabrous. Infructescences erect, ovoid, 2–4 × 1.5–3 cm, remaining intact for a period after release of fruits in late fall; scales sparsely pubescent to glabrous, lobes ascending, branching at middle, slightly unequal in length. Samaras with wings narrower than body, broadest near summit, not extended beyond body apically. 2n = 112.


Phenology: Flowering late spring.
Habitat: Wet, swampy forests containing Betula pumila
Elevation: 0–300 m

Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Betula murrayana is an octoploid derivative of Betula × purpusii (= B. alleghaniensis Britton × B. pumila Linnaeus) (B. V. Barnes and B. P. Dancik 1985). It is intermediate between B. alleghaniensis and B. pumila in most vegetative features, but in characters such as leaf size, it approaches B. alleghaniensis.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"broadest" is not a number. "narrower" is not a number.

... more about "Betula murrayana"
acuminate +  and acute +
John J. Furlow +
B. V. Barnes & Dancik +
tanniferous +  and furrowed +
dark red +  and reddish-brown +
exfoliating +
cuneate +
2 +  and 3 +
terete +
slender +
staminate +  and pistillate +
solitary +  and in small racemose clusters +
ovoid +  and cylindric +
expanding +
Murray's birch +
multibracteate +
0–300 m +
pistillate +  and staminate +
expanding +
Wet, swampy forests containing Betula pumila +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br />) +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br />) +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
membranaceous +
10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br /> (14 cm140 mm <br />0.14 m <br />) +
5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br /> (11 cm110 mm <br />0.11 m <br />) +
not obvious +  and defined +
membranaceous +
Flowering late spring. +
2(-3)-carpellate +
Canad. J. Bot. +
1-seeded +  and 2-winged +
not extended +
crowded +  and imbricate +
deciduous +
sparsely pubescent +  and glabrous +
(1-)3-lobed +
expanding +
not woody +  and leathery +
thicker +  and thin +
Conservation concern +  and Endemic +
2 +  and 3 +
nearly +  and distinct +
abaxially sparsely pubescent;glabrous +
Betula murrayana +
species +
excurrent +  and branching +
differentiated +
narrower +
tanniferous +
light +, nearly white +  and reddish-brown +
soft +  and hard +