Birch

Birch, also called birch tree, is a tree of the north temperate regions. It is slender, grows fast, has thin (often peeling) bark, and bears catkins, ie cylindrical flower cluster with inconspicuous or no petals. Its wood, called birchwood, is pale in colour, fine-grained, and hard. It belongs to the genus Betula, and the family Betulaceae. Many species of this tree are found of which North American yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis is a notable one. Birchwood is also sometimes simply called birch. Historically, the flogging of certain guilty persons with a bundle of the twigs of birch was also called 'the birch'.