Its specific name, lenta, is derived from the tough yet flexible twigs that characterize the species. The wood is also unique. When exposed to air it darkens to a color resembling mahogany and, in times past, was used as an inexpensive substitute for the more valued tropical wood.
Alfred Joyce Kilmer and His Memorial Forest
By Steve Nix, About.com Guide
Sweet birch (Betula lenta), also commonly referred to as black birch or cherry birch, was at one time the only source of oil of wintergreen. It is the aroma of wintergreen emanating from crushed leaves and broken twigs to which this birch owes its common name, sweet.
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- Alfred Joyce Kilmer
- Kilmer's "Trees"
- The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest
- The Little Santeetlah Creek Watershed
- A Joyce Kilmer Yellow Poplar
- The Joyce Kilmer Eastern Hemlock
- The Joyce Kilmer Sweet Birch
- The Joyce Kilmer American Chestnut
- The Joyce Kilmer Basswood
- The Joyce Kilmer American Beech
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