Himalayan Birch

• High Mountains
• High Himal & Trans-Himalaya

Flowers inMay, June

• 01Its bark peels off in thin white sheets that really can be written on.
• 02Birch forms the treeline — the highest place in the Himalaya where a true tree can still grow.

• Melting snow and ice

  How serious4/5

  As snow retreats, other plants move up into birch ground. Birch itself has nowhere higher to go — the summit is the ceiling.

• Rising heat

  How serious4/5

  Birch needs long cold winters to set seed properly. Milder winters mean fewer young trees each year.

• Take only what regrows

  Many Nepali medicine plants are disappearing because every last one gets dug up. There is a way to gather that leaves the plant alive.

Scientific name

Betula utilis

Family

Betulaceae