The Black Birch is a rather dark tree, with bark that tends to be a deep black and adorned with white horizontal lines that appear like scars. The leaves are also a dark green or dark grayish-green and are larger than other birches. The tree is typically extremely sturdy and the wood is hard and close-grained.

Appearance. The Black Birch is known for its dark appearance. It has a dark black bark that isn’t as thin or as paper-like as the bark of most birch trees. The tree is adorned with small whitish scars that run in short horizontal lines over its trunk and its slender branches. Its twigs are small and have a delicate look to them. The shape of the tree is a tall globe above a long, slimb trunk, with a rounded top that gives it a full appearance. These trees can reach anywhere from 18 to 24 peds high. The leaves of these dark birches are a little larger than most birch leaves by a few nailsbreadths. These leaves are a dark green to dark grayish-green color. The soft 'cones' of the Black Birch are about half as big as the leaves. They’re usually a dark brown or dark reddish-brown. The cones grow upward from the joints between the branch and the leaf-stem.

Image description. The ever popular black birch baton, also often referred to as the "Swarthystaff". Picture drawn by Seeker.

Territory. The Black Birch can be found from the Shaded Forest all the way to the Quallian. It lives primarily in the Hovel Frond Forest, where some believe the tree originated among the Diorye’oleal Dark Elves. It can also be found in the Bolder, though it has never been found inside the Thaelon. Additionally Black Birches have been spotted as well in the Goltherlon Forest, the Paelelon and the Almatrar.

Usages. The Black Birch is used for bow making, though bows of Black Birch require a strong arm to string and thus aren’t as popular as most other bow trees. They are, however, able to carry an arrow rather far. The Black Birch is also used for making arrow shafts because arrows made with this wood tend to be more durable and last longer than most other woods, rarely splitting or fracturing. The Black Birch is also popularly used for making furniture because of the wood’s hard and close-grained properties.

Reproduction. See main Birch entry.

Myth/Lore. The well-known myth of the Black Birch dates back to the fall of Fá’áv’cál’âr and the infamous Avásh’aelía, known to humans as the Bone Queen. It is said after the Final Wars, Avásh’aelía and Sohlim, her brother who by then was known as Saban the Second, migrated to Southern Sarvonia, but on the way, while in the Hovel Frond Forest, their emotions erupted in a furious disagreement that to this day is unknown and lies only in theory and imagination. It is believed by most that Saban was disturbed by his sister's bloodthirsty nature and wished her to be exiled, fearing that one day she would try to usurp away his power.

He left her in the Hovel Frond Forest, and it is believed that, as she wandered there in all her sadness and anger, Black Birches grew in her footsteps, as black and as scarred as her soul. Though, as legend goes, she has since returned to the haunted marshes in which Fá’áv’cál’âr resides, the trees still grow in astonishing numbers in and around the Hovel Frond Forest...