A small, intolerant pioneer tree common on infertile sites and the smallest of the northeastern birches. It is native from eastern Canada south to Delaware. Leaves are doubly serrate and deltoid with an acuminate tip. Twigs are slender and non-aromatic with warty lenticels. Buds are ovoid and gummy. Fruit is cylindrical, deciduous, and spreading or ascending. Bark is dull, gray to chalk white, thin, and tight with black patches below branches.