Sweet Birch

Sweet birch or cherry birch is a deciduous tree, with brownish-black, cherry-like, scaly bark and reddish-brown stems. Aromatic tree with the scent of wintergreen in crushed twigs and foliage. Fall color is golden-yellow and the flower is a catkin that appears before leaves in Spring. Historically, birch oil, or oil of wintergreen, was used to flavor medicines and candy, obtained from the bark and wood of young trees. The trees can be tapped like Sugar Maples (Acer saccharum) in early spring.