Description
NOTE: THIS IS NOT ACTUALLY FOR SALE. THIS IS A SAMPLE PRODUCT FOR SHOPPING CART TESTING.
**ALSO KNOWN AS:**
Sweet Birch, Black Birch, Cherry Birch, Mahogany Birch, Spice Birch
**NUTRIENT ACCUMULATOR:**
P / Phosphorus (Hemenway)
**USES:**
**Wood:** furniture, millwork, cabinets
**Sap:** “flows about a month later than maple sap, and much faster. Trees can be trapped in a similar fashion, but must be gathered about three times more often. Birch sap can be boiled the same as maple sap, but its syrup is stronger (like molasses).” (Little)
**Food:** the inner bark may be eaten raw as an emergency food. | “it’s similar to cinnamon bark; mother used it in pumpkin pies if she didn’t have cinnamon.” (Bass)
**Tea**: the twigs and inner bark may be steeped into a tea.
**Oil:** “was once harvested extensively to produce oil of wintergreen, so the tree was borderline endangered until the ’50s-’60s when synthetic oil of wintergreen appeared.”
**SOURCES:**
Hemenway, Toby. 2009. *Gaia’s Garden: a Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture*. Chelsea Green Publishing. p. 132. | location: my own library
Little, Elbert L. (1980). *The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Eastern Region.* New York: Knopf. p. 366. ISBN-0-394-50760-6. | location: found through Wikipedia’s list of sources on this plant
Bass, A. L. Tommie (the words quoted are his). Crellin, John K., Philpott, Jane (1989). *Herbal Medicine Past and Present: Volume II A Reference Guide to Medicinal Plants*. Duke University Press. p. 96. | location of source: archive.org and borrow the book for 1 hour at a time. try this link: https://archive.org/details/referenceguideto0000crel/page/94/mode/2up?view=theater
NOTE: THIS IS NOT ACTUALLY FOR SALE. THIS IS A SAMPLE PRODUCT FOR SHOPPING CART TESTING.
