Tree · Betulaceae
Sweet birch
Betula lenta
Sweet birch is recorded as native to 18 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 352 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Sweet birch at a glance
- Native in
- 352 counties, across 18 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b PLANTS minimum temperature −26°F
- Mature height
- 60 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −26°F; zone 4b winters bottom out at −25°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Sweet birch is recorded as native to 18 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 352 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 352 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 9 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Georgia 15 counties
- Kentucky 35 counties
- Maine 5 counties
- Massachusetts 12 counties
- New Hampshire 9 counties
- New Jersey 16 counties
- New York 32 counties
- North Carolina 20 counties
- Ohio 18 counties
- Pennsylvania 58 counties
- Rhode Island 2 counties
- South Carolina 2 counties
- Tennessee 21 counties
- Vermont 4 counties
- Virginia 55 counties
- West Virginia 39 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 60 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 29 to 80 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 3.6 to 6.8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 28 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −26°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 90
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Field Collections Only
- Family
- Betulaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- BELE
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Betula lenta (PLANTS symbol BELE).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources