Silver birch

On Jaanipäev, Estonian Midsummer, young birches are set up by front doors, and birch whisks are an essential part of the Estonian sauna.

The silver birch is a slender tree growing to 25–30 m, with distinctive white bark that darkens and cracks deeply at the base of older trunks. Its thin, drooping twigs are covered in tiny resin warts. As a pioneer species it quickly colonises abandoned fields, clearings and burnt ground. In spring sap is tapped from drilled trunks, and birch wood is used for plywood, furniture and firewood.

Significance in the country

On Jaanipäev young birches are set up by the doors of houses and at gates, and in spring people drink birch sap (kasemahl). Birch whisks (vihad) are an inseparable part of Estonian sauna culture – the smoke sauna tradition of Võrumaa has been inscribed on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage.

Where it grows

Throughout the country – in mixed forests, at field edges, on meadows reverting to woodland and in towns; the birch is one of the commonest trees in Estonian forests.

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