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birch

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birch

Any of a group of slender trees with small leaves and fine, peeling bark. About 40 species are found in cool temperate parts of the northern hemisphere. Birches grow rapidly, and their hard, beautiful wood is used for veneers and cabinet work. (Genus Betula, family Betulaceae.)

Paper birch (Betula papyrifera) is native to the northern half of North America.

Betulinic acid, a compound found in birch bark, was discovered by US researchers 1995 to kill melanoma (cancerous) cells in the skin whilst leaving healthy cells unharmed.



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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
For such offenders, if any such there be, a rod of birch is hanging over the fireplace, and a heavy ferule lies on the master's desk.
Grandfather's Chair by Hawthorne, Nathaniel View in context
And the birch rustled its leaves, and said: 'I have served you longer than I can say, and you never tied a bit of twine even round my branches; and the dear children bound them up with their brightest ribbons.
The Yellow Fairy Book by Lang, Andrew View in context
At such times, under an abated sun; afloat all day upon smooth, slow heaving swells; seated in his boat, light as a birch canoe; and so sociably mixing with the soft waves themselves, that like hearth-stone cats they purr against the gunwale; these are the times of dreamy quietude, when beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the ocean's skin, one forgets the tiger heart that pants beneath it; and would not willingly remember, that this velvet paw but conceals a remorseless fang.
Moby Dick LXVIII-CXXXIV by Melville, Herman View in context
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