Birch

When you think of the North Woods, you'll probably think of Paper Birch.  These trees light up the forest with their white bark.  The distinctive dark horizontal lines on the bark are its pores.  This tree is extremely cold-hardy. 

Paper birch grows rapidly and in clumps.  It is a pioneer of disturbed habitats, reproducing in spectacular, densely packed groves following logging or forest fires. 

The leaves are shaped like eggs and have toothed edges.  Its twigs are fuzzy. (Marles et al., 2012)

The tree will die if you remove its bark.  There are certain protocols you should follow before harvesting.

This tree seeds profusely and, if the top is killed or damaged, develops a basal root collar from which dormant buds send up clusters of new shoots. 

Birch bark makes beautiful campfire tinder. 

Birtch bark is also extremely durable and used for the indigenous bark canoe, sewn together with larch roots and caulked with balsam resin.

The Woodland Cree make snowshoes and toboggans with birch.  The best time to do it is in the winter or even fall.  You put the wood in boiling water which allows you to bend it without breaking.  If you tried this in the spring, the trees would be crisp and could easily break because they're thawed out. (Merasty & Hardlotte, 43:15)

The bark is used to make baskets.  Not only do the baskets help to carry berries, they help to keep them fresh because of birch bark's antibacterial properties (Gray, p. 243).

 

Birch sap is called waskwayâpoy ("birch - waskway", 2004).  The sap is clear and mostly water (1/100 parts sugar).  You can drink it like water in absense of an accessible source. (Gray, p. 244)

To make syrup, boil the sap for 3 days then mix it with flour.  You can use it to dip your bannock (Merasty & Hardlotte, 48:00) or sweeten your tea.  The syrup contains Vitamin C, iron, riboflavin, zinc, manganese, calcium, thimine, magnesium, and potassium (Gray, p. 245).

Many natural sweetners come from Birch which comes from the inner bark and is called xylitol.  It can be used as toothpaste.  For dogs xylitol is poisonous.  (Gray, p. 245)

Traditional Mi'kmaw medicine made from birch bark oil has long been used for skin treatment and is being investigated in a five-year Canadian Institutes of Heath Research grant to develop the commercial production ("Traditional Mi'kmaw medicine...," 2019).

The leaves are bitter.  Tea from the dried leaves helps with urinary problems, kidney stones, and other ailments.  Birch leaf in tea can also help with high cholesterol.  The branches can also be added to tea for the resin-like substance which smells of wintergreen.  Or, steam the leaves to clear sinus congestion.  (Gray, p. 243) Birch is used as a diuretic and anti-inflammatory for gout, rheumatism, and mild arthritic pain (Keane, p.7-8).

Leave birch leaves in apple cider vinegar for a month to make a vitamin and mineral tonic that builds bones, strengthenes the immune system, and relieves headaches.  (Gray, p. 244)

The leaves can extract poison from wasp stings by chewing the leaves and placed on the sting. (Dene Elder, Stony Rapids SK, published in Marles, p. 145)  The leaves and branches can also be used in a compress or bath for sore muscles, sprains, headaches, rheumatism, and gout. (Gray, p. 243) The bark helps aching bones (Cree Elders, Nelson House MB, published in Marles, p. 146).

The buds can be infused in oil for a salve for inflamed skin.  (Gray, p. 243)

The dried inner bark helps to treat diarrhea.  (Gray, p. 243)  The inner bark tea steam can treat asthma. (Cree Elder, Athabasca River region, AB, published in Marles, p. 146)

For female fertility, the bark from the side of the tree where the sun shines (East) is used as an ingredient in a drink. (Cree Elders, Nelson House MB, published in Marles, p. 145) 

For broken bones, the powder from the bark can be rubbed on to the skin and then wrap the bone in a cast made from the bark, which can only be collected in summer.  (Cree Elders, Nelson House MB, published in Marles, p. 146)  The outer bark can be peeled and steamed for use as bandages. (Métis Elder, Northwestern Alberta, published in Marles, p. 146)