Betula nigra (River Birch)
Betula nigra (River Birch)
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Pure Live Seed
Pure Live Seed
Seed is provided in Pure Live Seed (PLS) unless otherwise stated.
Pure Live Seed (PLS) expresses the viable seed content of a seed lot using its purity and germination or viability test results. It helps you compare seed lots and calculate how much bulk seed is needed to meet a specified PLS planting rate.
PLS weight and bag weight
PLS weight is not the same as the total weight of seed in a bag. For example, a lot with 80% purity and 75% viability contains 60% PLS: 80 × 75 ÷ 100 = 60. Supplying 10 lb PLS from that lot requires about 16.67 lb of bulk seed.
Use the current seed test and the stated basis of the mix specification. Germination calculations may include applicable hard or dormant seed. Seed-count estimates also require the number of seeds per pound; PLS alone does not provide a seed count.
What to check when buying a mix
Check whether each rate is stated in PLS pounds, bulk pounds, or a combination. A mix with both bases should not be described as having an all-PLS total.
PLS does not remove weed seeds or guarantee establishment. Review the seed label and analysis for weed content, and match site preparation, planting conditions and follow-up management to your project.
Sources: USDA NRCS, Understanding Pure Live Seed and The Importance of Seed Quality for Natural Resource Conservation.
Weight Conversions lbs. to oz.
Weight Conversions lbs. to oz.
0.01 pounds = 0.16 ounces
- 0.1 pounds = 1.6 ounces
- 0.25 pounds = 4 ounces
- 0.5 pounds = 8 ounces
- 0.75 pounds = 12 ounces
- 1.00 pounds = 16 ounces
River birch often forks into several large limbs and develops an irregular crown. Moist ground suits it, but alkaline soil can be a poor match despite its tolerance of varied textures.
For Betula nigra, choose full to partial sun and moist soil. Recorded habitats include river and stream floodplains; Moist soils along watercourses. Reported height: 40–90 ft at maturity.
Leave room for the mature branches beside paths and nearby plantings. Growth habit: fast-growing tree with spreading limbs. Root structure: branching woody roots.
Plant specifications & ecological relationships
Key growing facts
| Sunlight | Full to partial sun |
|---|---|
| Soil moisture | Moist |
| Height | 40–90 ft at maturity |
| Bloom season | Mid-spring |
Native landscape companions
For full sun and moist soil, consider these native plants alongside Betula nigra:
| Companion plant | Height |
|---|---|
| Wild Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) | Up to 80 ft |
| Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) | 40-80 ft |
| Bitternut Hickory (Carya cordiformis) | 60-100 ft |
| Hazelnut (Corylus americana) | 4-15 ft |
These landscape suggestions combine overlapping growing needs with documented plant associations. Match soil, seasonal wetness and mature spread to your site. Remnant records are described separately under Plant communities & associates.
Show / hide ▾Growing & planting details
| Growth habit | Fast-growing tree with spreading limbs |
|---|---|
| Root form | Branching woody roots |
| Soil pH | Grows best in acidic soil |
| Cultivation hardiness zones | Zones 4a–9b (general cultivation guidance) |
| Drought tolerance | Tolerates short drought periods |
| Deer browsing | White-tailed deer browse twigs and foliage. |
| Salt tolerance | None |
Plant identification & seed reference
| Botanical name | Betula nigra |
|---|---|
| Other common names | river birch; Black Birch; Red Birch; River Birch; Water Birch |
| Seed germination | USDA lists cold stratification as not required; seed-lot response may vary. |
| Plant family | Betulaceae |
| Seeds per pound — reference estimate | 374400 |
Plant characteristics
This native shrub is common in western and southern Illinois, but uncommon through most of the rest of the state. It prefers moist conditions but will tolerate normal soils just fine. Betula nigra (River Birch) is a very common landscaping tree of northern Illinois because of it's interesting bark, unique shape, and wide tolerance of soil conditions.
Show / hide ▾Plant communities & associates
Documented Illinois communities
Second-growth dry-mesic upland sand forest — woody layer
Lost Mound — Jo Daviess County, Illinois; 2005 survey.
Other native plants recorded in this survey area: Carya cordiformis, Carya ovata, Celtis occidentalis, Corylus americana, Juniperus virginiana, Prunus serotina, Quercus alba, Quercus rubra, Quercus velutina, Ribes missouriense, Tilia americana, Acer negundo.
Selected species from the woody layer. The survey includes disturbance and succession; these records do not specify immediate neighbors or planting proportions.
Other documented plant associations
These published associations show how this plant fits into natural vegetation. The region and community are identified for each list; moisture, shade and flooding can differ within a community.
Central hardwood forests; different stand types
Central part of the American hornbeam range
Other regional plant communities
These plants are named with this species in published vegetation accounts. Each list keeps its community and region; some records describe a shared vegetation type rather than neighboring plants in a measured plot. They are ecological records, not a planting recipe, and may include plants unsuitable for a particular garden.
- Riparian trees and shrubs (Eastern North America; account synthesis): Salix nigra.
Show / hide ▾Native range & C-value
State nativity describes a broad range. Use the Chicago-region assessment for local context; a state listing does not establish county nativity.
| Wetland indicator — NWPL 2022 Midwest | FACW |
|---|---|
| C-value — Chicago region, Flora 2017 | 5 |
| Chicago-region native — Flora 2017 | Yes |
| Native range — U.S. states | Alabama; Arkansas; Connecticut; Delaware; Florida; Georgia; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maryland; Massachusetts; Minnesota; Mississippi; Missouri; New Jersey; New York; North Carolina; Ohio; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; South Carolina; Tennessee; Texas; Virginia; West Virginia; Wisconsin |
| County nativity | Not yet verified; occurrence records do not establish nativity. |
Show / hide ▾Pollinators & wildlife
Caterpillars & other plant-feeding insects
This plant has published caterpillar host records for the butterflies and moths listed below. These are larval feeding relationships, separate from adult nectar visits. The records span a North American literature compilation and do not establish that every insect occurs locally or uses only this plant.
Moths
- Acrobasis betulivorella
- Acronicta betulae — Birch Dagger
- Acronicta hastulifera — Frosted Dagger, Hoary Alder Dagger
- Cnidocampa flavescens — Oriental Moth (listed as introduced in the source)
- Nemoria bistriaria — Two-Striped Emerald, Red-Fringed Emerald
- Nites betulella — Blackdotted Birch Leaftier
- Parornix obliterella
- Pseudotelphusa betulella
Leafhopper hosts
The INHS revision lists this plant as a host for the following Eratoneura leafhoppers. These plant-feeding insects are distinct from caterpillars and flower visitors.
- Eratoneura nigriventer
Host names follow the 2010 taxonomic revision. Its distribution records do not establish a host observation at your planting site.
Other insect & wildlife relationships
Caterpillars this plant can feed
Mourning Cloak; Dreamy Duskywing.
- Browsing: White-tailed deer browse young twigs, buds and foliage.
- Seed and catkins: Grouse, turkeys, smaller birds and rodents eat the seeds. Birds and squirrels also eat the male catkins.
Additional published species records; Illinois insect occurrence is not established by this account. These records do not guarantee that every insect occurs at your planting site.
Show / hide ▾Frequently asked questions
What are the ideal growing conditions for River Birch?
Light: Full to partial sun. Soil moisture: Moist.
How do I germinate and establish River Birch from seed?
USDA lists cold stratification as not required; seed-lot response may vary.
Is River Birch deer and herbivore resistant?
White-tailed deer browse twigs and foliage. Even plants described as resistant may be browsed. Use physical protection where deer damage is a concern.
When should I expect River Birch to bloom?
Typical flowering period: Mid-spring. Timing varies with location and weather.
Show / hide ▾Sources & ecological notes
Landscape companion selection: Natural Communities compared the growing requirements shown on these species pages with selected source records: Second-growth dry-mesic upland sand forest — woody layer — Northwestern Illinois — Mississippi River sand deposits. The shortlist is a planting-design inference. A shared record does not establish adjacency, identical soil requirements, local seed origin, or a tested planting combination. Regional synthesis records retain their documented focal-to-associate scope.
Native range & ecological ratings: Flora of the Chicago Region (2017), via Universal FQA; USACE Chicago FQA (2017); Kew WCVP / Plants of the World Online; USACE National Wetland Plant List.
Growing conditions & other references: Illinois Wildflowers, John Hilty; USDA Forest Service: american hornbeam; USDA Forest Service: Salix nigra; Patrick Goggin: Wisconsin native plant guide, p. 75; USDA NRCS PLANTS; USDA Forest Service: species review; NC State Extension Plant Toolbox.
Wildlife records: Shropshire & Tallamy: caterpillar hosts (2025); INHS: Eratoneura leafhopper host records.
Native range does not identify the origin of the seed or plants offered. Community and wildlife records apply to the locations and conditions described.
Research notes & credits
USACE/ERDC fqadata — Chicago Region FQA 2017. Herman, B., Sliwinski, R. & Whitaker, S. (2017), Chicago Region FQA Calculator; distributed by USACE/ERDC in fqadata under CC0. Values may differ from Flora of the Chicago Region (2017). CC0 dedication. Retained for comparison; the displayed C-value follows Flora database 80.
Range data: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; 4 June 2026 release, accessed 7 September 2026. © The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. CC BY 3.0; selected and reformatted. Kew cannot warrant the quality or accuracy of these data. This use has no Kew endorsement.
Caterpillar host records: Shropshire, K.J. & Tallamy, D.W. (2025), Lepidoptera of North America, Supplement 1. Contains information from this database made available under the Open Database License (ODbL 1.0). Natural Communities selected species-level records and screened source qualifications. The complete selection and transformation instructions for this page are available below under the same license.
Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin — Eratoneura paper. Dietrich, C.H. & Dmitriev, D.A. (2010), Review of the Species of New World Erythroneurini, IV. Genus Eratoneura. Copyright University of Illinois Board of Trustees. CC BY 4.0; selected host records summarized and reformatted. No endorsement implied. CC BY 4.0.
Flora rating attribution: Kenneth Johnson (2018), Flora of the Chicago Region UFQA Database, following Gerould Wilhelm and Laura Rericha (2017), Flora of the Chicago Region: A Floristic and Ecological Synthesis. Individual rating facts are presented with original commentary; the calculator’s software license is not treated as a license for the underlying Flora publication.
Detailed record links: Eratoneura nigriventer; Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin — Eratoneura paper.
Caterpillar research records
Plant: Betula nigra
Record scope: Host literature synthesis; no county nativity or local insect occurrence inferred.
Shropshire & Tallamy (2025) · Original research dataset · Reuse license: ODbL-1.0
| Plant names in the source | Source insect record IDs |
|---|---|
| Betula nigra | 200172, 200286, 200304, 203058, 208604, 208789, 209500, 210696 |
How these records were selected
To reproduce this selection, use the “UDELep May 2025” worksheet in the original research dataset.
- Match the insect record IDs above to column A (UDLepID). Within each table row, pair every listed insect ID with every listed source plant name.
- Use the first two words in column H for the insect’s scientific name, column E for its common name, and column AB for its source category.
- Treat the selected pairs as reported caterpillar host records. Keep all other source fields unchanged and outside this selected table. Include no other rows or host pairs.
- Group butterflies and skippers together, and the other categories as moths. Retain the source’s exotic-category labels and sort display names by scientific insect name.
Survey communities: Ebinger et al. (2006), Tables 1–12, Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin. CC BY 4.0; adapted as dated presence lists, with the source’s non-native records excluded from the displayed native lists.
Growing guidance: Illinois Extension — Keeping deer out of the yard and garden. Selected facts in original wording. General deer advice is not a species resistance rating.
Plant Shipping & Care
Plant Shipping & Care
We want to ensure that our customers get what they want, a native backyard oasis. To do that, we need to follow a few simple guidelines and give you some information and pointers to make sure you get your plants delivered in a healthy state.
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Order Fulfilment - When Your Plants or Other Items Will Be Ready
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Where We Ship
What to Expect When Receiving Your Delivery
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- We will need to cut back certain plants prior to shipping. This seems counter-intuitive, however, the fewer leaves the less water the plants can lose during shipping, resulting in healthier plants for you. This also enables the plants to fit within the protective packaging and shipped safely.
Shipments
- Larger plant shipments will look similar to the picture below with a tray of your plants and a cardboard box to protect them during shipping.
What to Do With Your Plants After Receiving Your Delivery
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- Install your plants as quickly as possible and water the entire garden area thoroughly
- If you cannot install your plants immediately
- Some plants may not be in a container, put them into some kind of a container such as a paper cup with loose soil until installation
- Make sure each plant is receiving the appropriate amount of light.
- Continue to water daily each morning and possibly again in the afternoon
- No additional fertilizer is needed
Seed Shipping & Care
Seed Shipping & Care
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