birch tree 

Distinctive features

1. Often smooth, shiny, white bark with long, horizontal, black lines and peels off in papery, thin layers.

2. The fruit are catkins which are long, cylindrical hanging flower clusters. They look like hanging caterpillars. 

3. The seeds look like very small transparent moths.

To remember the distinctive and main features of a birch tree, use the following mnemonic:

Birch is made up of the words birds and perched. Imagine a tree with birds perched on it pooping down it (the white and black poop marks look like the bark of the tree). While perched they also eat caterpillars which hang from their beaks (fruit looks like hanging caterpillars). The birds are also reading a newspaper (the bark peels away in thin paperly layers). Cats and kittens (catkins) sit at the bottom of the tree staring at the birds. There is a transparent moth sitting on one of the cats and a kitten (the seeds look like very small transparent moths).

Main Features of a Birch Tree.

1. The bark of a birch tree is one of the most recognised features. The bark is smooth, shiny and often white. The bark also has long horizontal lines through which the tree can breathe. The birch tree bark naturally peels or exfoliates in thin paper-like layers described as papery.

2. A birch tree has flower clusters that resemble hanging caterpillars typically appearing in spring. These clusters are called catkins. Each catkin is long, cylindrical and pendulous (hanging).

3. After pollination the female catkins dry out and break apart, releasing winged seeds into the air. They are very small and delicate and resemble little transparent moths.

4. The birch tree.