Tree · Betulaceae
River birch
Betula nigra
River birch is recorded as native to 29 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 929 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
River birch at a glance
- Native in
- 929 counties, across 29 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −31°F
- Mature height
- 70 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −31°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
River birch is recorded as native to 29 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 929 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 929 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 59 counties
- Arkansas 70 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 26 counties
- Georgia 37 counties
- Illinois 62 counties
- Indiana 34 counties
- Iowa 3 counties
- Kansas 3 counties
- Kentucky 82 counties
- Louisiana 31 counties
- Massachusetts 6 counties
- Minnesota 4 counties
- Mississippi 43 counties
- Missouri 91 counties
- New Jersey 18 counties
- New York 12 counties
- North Carolina 60 counties
- Ohio 18 counties
- Oklahoma 14 counties
- Pennsylvania 38 counties
- South Carolina 20 counties
- Tennessee 47 counties
- Texas 21 counties
- Virginia 74 counties
- West Virginia 29 counties
- Wisconsin 24 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
- 70 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 30 to 80 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 3 to 6.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- None
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 20 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −31°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 150
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Brown
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Betulaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- BENI
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 nigra (PLANTS symbol BENI).
- 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