Birch Trees | Gentle Bedtime Reading For Sleep

Drift off with a calm bedtime reading about birch trees, designed to support sleep and ease insomnia through gentle learning. This peaceful bedtime reading blends calm facts and natural history with a soothing pace that helps quiet the mind for sleep and rest from insomnia, as Benjamin gently explores the world of birch trees—their distinctive bark, habitats, and quiet role in ecosystems—while keeping the tone slow, steady, and comforting. You can relax as you learn something new, guided by a calm, reassuring cadence that never whispers, just simple educational reading meant to soothe. This episode is ideal for listeners dealing with insomnia, stress, anxiety, or restless nights, offering a safe mental focus that encourages relaxation and drowsiness. Settle in, get comfortable, and press play as calm knowledge carries you toward rest. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast,

Where I help you drift off one fact at a time.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster,

And today's episode is about birch trees.

A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus Betula.

In the family Betulaceae,

Which also includes alders,

Hazels,

And hornbeams.

It is closely related to the beech oak family Phagaceae.

The genus Betula contains 30 to 60 known taxa,

Of which 11 are on the IUCN 2011 Red List of Threatened Species.

They are typically short-lived pioneer species and are widespread in the Northern Hemisphere,

Particularly in northern areas of temperate climates and in boreal climates.

Birch wood is used for a wide range of purposes.

Birch species are generally small to medium-sized trees or shrubs,

Most of northern temperate and boreal climates.

The simple leaves are alternate,

Singly,

Or double-serrated,

Feather-veined,

Petiolated,

And stipulated.

They often appear in pairs,

But these pairs are really born on spur-like two-leaved lateral branchlets.

The fruit is a small samara,

Although the wings may be obscure in some species.

They differ from alders in that the female catkins are not woody and disintegrate at maturity,

Falling apart to release the seeds,

Unlike the woody cone-like female alder catkins.

The bark of all birches is characteristically marked with long,

Horizontal lenticels and often separates into thin,

Papery plates,

Especially upon the paper birch.

Distinctive colors give the common names gray,

White,

Black,

Silver,

And yellow birch to different species.

The buds,

Forming early and full-grown by mid-summer,

Are all lateral,

Without a terminal bud forming.

The branch is prolonged by the upper lateral bud.

The wood of all the species is close-grained with a satiny texture and capable of making a fine polish.

Its fuel value is fair.

The flowers are manetious and open with or before the leaves.

Once fully grown,

These leaves are usually 3 to 6 mm long on three-flowered clusters and the axles of the scales of drupine or red catkins or amans.

Staminate catkins are pendulous,

Clustered,

Or solitary in the axles of the last leaves of the branch of the year or near the ends of the short lateral branchlets of the year.

They form in early autumn and remain rigid during the winter.

The scales of the mature staminate catkins are broadly ovate,

Rounded,

Yellow or orange color,

Below the middle and dark chestnut brown at apex.

Each scale bears two bracklets and three sterile flowers,

Each flower consisting of a sessile membranous,

Usually two-lobed calyx.

Each calyx bears four short filaments,

With one-celled anthers,

Or strictly two filaments,

Divided into two branches,

Each bearing a half-anther.

Anther cells open longitudinally.

The pistillate segments are erect or pendulous and solitary,

Terminal on the two-leaved lateral spur-like branchlets of the year.

The pistillate scales are oblong,

Ovate,

Three-lobed,

Pale yellow-green,

Often tinged with red,

Becoming brown at maturity.

These scales bear two or three fertile flowers,

Each flower consisting of a naked ovary.

The ovary is compressed,

Two-celled,

And crowned with two slender stiles.

The ovule is solitary.

Each scale bears a single small winged nut that is oval,

With two persistent stigmas at the apex.

Within betulacy,

Birches are most closely related to alder.

The oldest known birch fossils are those of Betula leopoldi from the Klondike Mountain Formation in Washington State,

U.

S.

,

Which date to the early Eocene,

Around 49 million years ago.

Birches often form even-aged stands on light,

Well-drained,

Particularly acidic soils.

They are regarded as pioneer species,

Rapidly colonizing open ground,

Especially in secondary successional sequences following a disturbance or fire.

Birches are early tree species to become established in primary successions and can become a threat to heartland if the seedlings and saplings are not suppressed by grazing or periodic burning.

Birches are generally lowland species,

But some species,

Such as Betula nana,

Have a montane distribution.

Because of the hardness of birch,

It is easier to shape it with power tools.

It is quite difficult to work it with hand tools.

Birch wood is fine-grained and pale in color,

Often with an attractive satin-like sheen.

Ripple figuring may occur,

Increasing the value of the timber for veneer and furniture making.

The highly decorative Mazur birch has ripple textures combined with attractive dark streaks and lines.

Birch plywood is made from laminations of birch veneer.

It is light but strong and has many other good properties.

It is among the strongest and dimensionally most stable plywoods,

Although it is unsuitable for exterior use.

Birch plywood is used to make long boards,

Giving it a strong yet flexible ride.

It is also used,

Often in very thin grades with many laminations,

For making model aircraft.

Birch wood is often used in the manufacture of popsicle sticks due to its durability,

Smoothness and neutral flavor.

Extracts of birch are used for flavoring in leather oil and in cosmetics such as soap and shampoo.

In the past,

Commercial oil of wintergreen was made from the sweet birch.

Birch tar or Russian oil extracted from the birch bark is thermoplastic and waterproof.

It was used as a glue on,

For example,

Arrows and also for medicinal purposes.

Fragrant twigs of wintergreen group birches are used in saunas.

Birch is also associated with the Feast of Pentecost in Central and Eastern Europe and Siberia,

Where its branches are used as decoration for churches and homes on this day.

Ground birch bark,

Fermented in seawater,

Is used for seasoning the woolen hemp or linen sails and hemp rope of traditional Norwegian boats.

Many Native Americans in the United States and indigenous peoples in Canada prize the birch for its bark,

Which,

Because of its lightweight flexibility and the ease with which it can be stripped from fallen trees,

Is often used for the construction of strong waterproof but lightweight canoes,

Bulls and wigwams.

The Hughes H4 Hercules was made mostly of birch wood,

Despite its better-known moniker,

The Spruce Goose.

Birch plywood was specified by the BBC as the only wood that can be used in making the cabinets of the long-lived LS35A loudspeaker.

Birch is used as firewood because of its high caloric value per unit weight and unit volume.

It burns well,

Without popping,

Even when frozen or freshly hewn.

The bark will burn very well,

Even when wet,

Because of the oils it contains.

With care,

It can be split into very thin sheets that will ignite from even the smallest of sparks.

Birch wood can be used to smoke foods.

Birch seeds are used as leaf litter in miniature terrain models.

Birch oil is used in the manufacture of Russia leather,

A water-resistant leather.

The inner bark is considered edible,

As an emergency food even when raw.

It can be dried and ground into flour,

As was done by Native Americans and early settlers.

It can also be cut into strips and cooked like noodles.

The sap can be drunk or used to make syrup and birch beer.

Tea can be made from the red inner bark of black birches.

White-barked birches,

In particular,

Are cultivated as ornamental trees,

Largely for their appearance in winter.

The Himalayan birch is among the most widely planted for this purpose.

It has been cultivated since the 1870s.

And many cultivars are available,

Including durum boss,

Crazewood ghost,

And silver shadow.

Knight's haze has a slightly weeping habit.

Other species have ornamental white bark.

In the European Union,

A prescription gel containing birch bark extract,

Extraction solvent N-heptane 95%,

Was approved in 2016 for the topical treatment of minor skin wounds in adults.

Although its mechanism of action in helping to heal injured skin is not fully understood,

Birch bark extract appears to stimulate the growth of keratinocytes,

Which then fill the wound.

Preliminary research indicates that the phytochemicals,

Butylene,

And possibly other triterpenes,

Are active in epsolvan gel and wound healing properties of birch bark.

Over centuries,

Birch bark was used in traditional medicine practices by North American indigenous people for treating superficial wounds by applying bark directly to the skin.

Splints made with birch bark were used as casts for broken limbs in the 16th century.

Wood pulp made from birch gives relatively long and slender fibers for a hardwood.

The thin walls cause the fiber to collapse upon drying,

Giving a paper with low bulk and low opacity.

The birch fibers are,

However,

Easily fibrillated and give about 75% of the tensile strength.

The low opacity makes it suitable for making glassine.

In India,

The birch holds great historical significance in the culture,

Where the thin bark coming off in winter was extensively used as writing paper.

Birch paper is exceptionally durable and was the material used for many ancient Indian texts.

The Roman period Vindolanda tablets also used birch as a material on which to write and birch bark was used widely in ancient Russia as notepaper.

And for decorative purposes and even making footwear and baskets.

Birch wood is sometimes used as a tonewood for semi-acoustic and acoustic guitar bodies and occasionally for solid body guitar bodies.

It is also a common material used in mallets for keyboard percussion.

Drum manufacturers,

Such as Gretsch and Yamaha,

Have been known to use birch wood in the construction of drum shells owing to its strength and color,

Which takes stain in an appealing way and which can also amber over very well,

While also giving the drums an appealing tone which changes depending on the type of birch used.

Birches have spiritual importance in several religions,

Both modern and historical.

In Celtic cultures,

The birch symbolizes growth,

Renewal,

Stability,

Initiation,

And adaptability because it is highly adaptive and able to sustain harsh conditions with casual indifference.

Proof of this adaptability is seen in its easy and eager ability to repopulate areas damaged by forest fires or clearings.

Birches are also associated with Tir nan Og,

The land of the dead,

And the Xi in Gaelic folklore and,

As such,

Frequently appear in Scottish,

Irish,

And English folk songs and ballads in association with deaths or fairies or returning from a grave.

The leaves of the silver birch tree are used in the Festival of St.

George,

Held in Novosel and other villages in Albania.

The birch is New Hampshire's state tree and the national tree of Finland and Russia.

The yellow birch is the official tree of the province of Quebec,

Canada.

The birch is a very important element in Russian culture and represents the grace,

Strength,

Tenderness,

And natural beauty of Russian women as well as the closeness to nature of the Russians.

It's associated with marriage and love.

There are numerous folkloric Russian songs in which the birch tree occurs.

The Urnas birch is the national tree of Sweden.

The Czech word for the month of March,

Brzezin,

Is derived from the Czech word bryza,

Meaning birch,

As birch trees flower and march under local conditions.

The silver birch tree is of special importance to the Swedish city of Umeå.

In 1888,

The Umeå city fire spread all over the city and nearly burned it down to the ground,

But some birches supposedly halted the spread of the fire.

To protect the city against future fires,

Wide avenues were created and these were lined with silver birch trees all over the city.

Umeå later adopted the unofficial name of City of the Birches.

Also,

The ice hockey team of Umeå is called Birkeloven,

Translated to English,

The Birch Leaves.

Swinging birch trees was a common game for American children in the 19th century.

American poet Lucy Larkins' Swinging on a Birch Tree celebrates the game.

The poem inspired Robert Frost,

Who pays homage to the act of climbing birch trees in his more famous poem,

Birches.

Frost once told,

It was almost sacrilegious climbing a birch tree till it bent,

Till it gave and swooped to the ground,

And that's what boys did in those days.

Birch bark is the bark of several Eurasian and North American birch trees.

For all practical purposes,

Birch bark's main layers are the outer dense layer,

White on the outside,

And the inner porous layer,

Cambium.

For a vast majority of crafts,

The outer bark is used.

In many languages,

It has a separate name.

For example,

In Russian,

Birch bark is барёзова якорора,

While the outer birch bark is барёста.

The strong and water-resistant cardboard-like outer bark can be easily cut,

Bent,

And sewn,

Which has made it a valuable building,

Crafting,

And writing material since prehistoric times.

Today,

Birch bark remains a popular type of wood for various handicrafts and arts.

Birch bark also contains substances of medicinal and chemical interest.

Some of those products also have fungicidal properties that help preserve bark artifacts,

As well as food preserved in bark containers.

Removing birch bark from live trees is harmful to tree health and should be avoided.

Instead,

It can be removed fairly easily from the trunk or branches of dead wood by cutting a slit lengthwise through the bark and pulling or prying it away from the wood.

The best time for collection is spring or early summer,

As the bark is of better quality and most easily removed.

Removing the outer light layer of bark from a trunk of a living tree may not kill it,

But probably weakens it and makes it more prone to infections.

Removal of the inner dark layer,

The phloem,

Kills the tree by preventing the flow of sap to the roots.

Birch bark can be used in a wide variety of applications,

From writing to building and even to make clothing.

It's a valuable construction material in any part of the world where birch trees were available.

Containers such as wrappings,

Bags,

Baskets,

Boxes,

Or quivers were made by most societies well before pottery was invented.

Other uses include,

In various Asian countries,

Including Siberia,

Birch bark was used to make storage boxes,

Paper,

Tinder,

Canoes,

Roof coverings,

Tents,

And waterproof covering for composite bows,

Such as the Mongol bow,

The Chinese bow,

Korean bow,

Turkish bows,

Assyrian bow,

The Perso-Persian bow.

It is still being used.

More than one variety of birch is used.

In North America,

The native population used birch bark for canoes,

Wigwams,

Scrolls,

Ritual art,

Birch bark biting,

Maps,

Including the oldest maps of North America,

Torches,

Fans,

Musical instruments,

Clothing,

And more.

In Scandinavia and Finland,

It was used as the substratum of sod roofs and birch bark roofs,

For making boxes,

Casks and buckets,

Fishing implements and shoes,

Similar to bast shoes.

In Russia,

Many birch bark manuscripts have survived from the Middle Ages.

In India,

Birch bark along with dried palm leaves were the primary writing supports before the widespread advent of paper in the 2nd millennium CE.

The oldest known Buddhist manuscripts,

From Afghanistan,

Were written on birch bark.

Neanderthals used birch bark to make a tar adhesive through the process of dry or destructive distillation.

Outer birch bark also makes an outstanding tinder,

As it does not soak up water.

Filcivus is a tropical medication with birch bark extract as its active ingredient.

It is used to treat two types of epidermolysis bullosa,

Dystrophic and junctional,

Targeting partial sickness skin wounds.

Common side effects include wound complications,

Skin reactions,

Infections,

Itching and allergic reactions.

Filcivus was approved in the European Union in June 2022 and in the United States in December 2023.

It is considered a first-in-class medication by the U.

S.

Food and Drug Administration.

Birch wood is a type of wood of the birch.

Birch wood is pale yellow-brown wood,

Having a closed straight grain and uniform texture that finishes to a smooth surface.

Sometimes it is dyed to imitate mahogany.

This type of wood is used for,

Among others,

Firewood,

Ternary,

Furniture,

Cabinetry,

Tools handles,

Hoops,

Plywood,

Flooring,

And shoe heels.

Paper birch,

Also known as American white birch and canoe birch,

Is a short-lived species of birch native to northern North America.

Paper birch is named after the tree's thin white bark,

Which often peels in paper-like layers from the trunk.

It is often one of the first species to colonize a burned area within the northern latitudes and is an important species for moose browsing.

Primary commercial uses for paper birch wood are as boltwood and saw logs,

While secondary products include firewood and pulpwood.

It is a provincial tree of Saskatchewan and the state tree of New Hampshire.

Paper birch is a medium-sized deciduous tree,

Typically reaching 20 meters tall and exceptionally to 40 meters,

With a trunk up to 75 centimeters in diameter.

Within forests it often grows with a single trunk,

But when grown as a landscape tree it may develop multiple trunks or branch close to the ground.

Paper birch is a typically short-lived species.

It handles heat and humidity poorly and may live only 30 years in zones 6 and up,

While trees in colder climate regions can grow for more than 100 years.

Paper birch will grow in many soil types,

From steep rocky outcrops to flat muskegs of the boreal forest.

Best growth occurs in deeper,

Well-drained to dry soils,

Depending on the location.

Reviews

Thank you, Benjamin! Who knew there was so much to know about birch trees?! 😻

We had a small grove of birch trees in front of our house (where most people had lawns) when I was growing up. Loved ‘m! Thanks Ben, loved this one!

An insightful talk about lumber trip help reach la la land. Cheers Ben

This did the exact opposite for me hahaaha
Instead of trying to fall asleep, I was on high alert, and fascinated about all this Birch Tree information. 98% of this information is and was copletely new to me, untill tonight. It moved me so much, I was crying tears of joy, almost this whole meditation of how awesome the Birch Tree is ,it's significance in the world , an all those things we use this tree for. Just wauw ,and for thousands of years already. All this info from.you , made me fell in love with Birch Tree and got me emotional. The birch is like a God among nature..We use it for medicine, buildings , writing , canoe's , leather and so.much more ,wauw. Thank you for this, I loved it

Excellent!
I have a yellow birch in my front yard.
Struggled to stay awake, though! Your soothing voice was leading me to 💤💤💤 but I made it. Goodnight and thank you!