The White Birch is popular for it’s paper-like bark, which can be peeled off in strips thin and light enough to allow writing. Like most birches, their leaves are ovate-shaped and they have tall, elegant trunks. They tend to prefer the cool climates in Northern Sarvonia, though they can be found in and around the Tandala Highlands, along the Northern Santharian border.

Image description. A young male of the Kuglimz'Ura clan about to toss another log of birch wood on the fire. Picture drawn by Bard Judith.

Appearance. The White Birch has a bark of a whitish or grayish-white color that, when peeled away in strips, is thin and light enough to write on. The White Birch tends to grow from 18 to 24 peds high. Its shape is such that is has a few erect branches and many smaller, horizontal ones that branch off of it. Sometimes these smaller branches will bend elegantly downward, making the tree appear as though it is weeping. The leaves of the White Birch are ovate, or egg-shaped, and are usually a dark or grayish green. The leaves tend to be about a palmspan in length. The cones of the White Birch hand down and are usually a tan or yellow-brown. They are also about half a palmspan long but tend to be more oval. The catkins are a yellowish brown.

Territory. The White Birch prefers cool conditions in Northern Sarvonia, though they have been found along the Santharian border in and around the Tandala Highlands. They are more commonly found, however, in the Hovel Frond forest, the Shaded Forest, the Wounds of Sylvan, and the Shadow Lands, though they have been found as far north as the Wood Forest.

Usages. The White Birch is mostly commonly used for paper and parchment. The paper of the White Birch tends to be very thin and is commonly used for writing letters. Once peeled from the tree, the bark is often treated with almerin, a substance found in some trees that helps make the paper more flexible and less delicate. Because the paper is so thin, formal documents are not commonly written on it, but because of their thin and light qualities, white birch bark paper is usually the kind used to make books.

White Birch bark is also commonly used to make baskets and ornaments. Often times striped off the bark can be pulled away and treated before being woven into elegant baskets used to carry flowers or fruit. Because the bark is not particularly strong, it is rarely woven into a bassinet or cradle. The birch itself is believed to, at one time, to have been a popular tree with which to make certain boats, though it is not as commonly used today. Some still like to make little carvings out of the wood, though, because it is soft and easy to work with.  

Reproduction. See main Birch entry.