Habitat: This birch prefers moist, cool soils and cool summers. It grows along lakes, swamps and stream banks in the north and on the sandy, loam soils of upland slopes and ridges in the mountains. Further south it requires cool, north-facing slopes and slopes bordering streams.
Diseases:It
is a slow grower and is moderately shade tolerant and susceptible to birch
borers when planted outside its native habitat. It is subject to anthracnose
disease of the foliage and canker of the twigs and branches.
Distribution: The yellow birch is the provincial tree of Quebec and occurs in southeastern Canada, the northeastern US, south to the high peaks of Georgia and Tennessee. It is native to the extreme northeast corner of Iowa and along the Iowa River in Hardin county.
