The birch tree is known for a variety of special features: Above all, it enjoys widespread popularity because of its striking white trunk and picturesque appearance. But there is another striking detail of the birch: its flowers, the so-called catkins. Find out how to easily identify birch blossoms.
When and how do you recognize a birch blossom?
Birch flowers are visible between March and May, with male flowers being yellow-orange, elongated and cylindrical, hanging from older shoots. The smaller female flowers are pale yellow-green and are located at the ends of young, leafy short shoots.
When is the birch in full bloom
The birch tree blooms between March and May. Birch trees produce their first, always unisexual, flowers at the age of five. Free-standing trees are truly sexually mature when they are around ten years old. The male flowers appear in the fall of the previous year. They overwinter until they open the following spring. As monoecious trees, female catkins are also present on the same tree in addition to the male ones.
Attention, flowering time is the same as pollen time
As a pioneer plant, the birch releases large amounts of pollen via its male catkins for extremely effective wind pollination. Every year in the spring months, allergy sufferers have to struggle with the very strong birch pollen allergen. You should therefore consider and rule out a possible allergy tendency in yourself or those around you before planting a birch tree.
Recognizing the blossom of the birch tree
Male birch flowers, up to ten centimeters long, are significantly larger and more conspicuous than the female catkins. Since they have already overwintered, male flowers hang on the ends of the older shoots. They have a strong yellow-orange color and have an elongated, cylindrical appearance. The female flowers of the birch tree, on the other hand, look rather inconspicuous. Only two to four centimeters tall, they initially appear pale yellow-green. However, towards late summer they take on an intense light brown shade. When looking for female flowers, you should always look at the ends of this year's young and leafy shoots.
