Cherry birch (Betula lenta) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 6
Distribution
Global range
Cherry birch is a tree mainly of the eastern United States with one population in adjacent Ontario. It occurs from southern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and Pennsylvania to eastern Ohio and down through the Appalachian Mountains to northern Alabama and Georgia (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Global range of Betula lenta
Adapted from Keddy, 1987.
Canadian range
There is only one confirmed wild population of cherry birch in Canada, in the Niagara Region of Ontario, within 50-70 km of populations in western New York (Figure 3). It occurs west of St. Catharines near the Lake Ontario shore at the mouth of 15 and 16 Mile Creeks. It was first documented in 1898 (W.C. McCalla, specimen at DAO, “Sixteen Mile Creek; Top of bank at mouth of Sixteen Mile Creek”) close to the extant population. Hosie (1979) visited the site in 1967. Other reports in the Niagara Region have proven to be no longer extant or false but it is possible that additional individuals are yet to be found. Reports from Quebec are considered of doubtful validity and generally thought to be B. alleghaniensis (Marie-Victorin, 1935); however, it is still a species to watch for in the region from the Ottawa Valley to Montréal. There are cultivated specimens in places such as the Guelph Arboretum, but such ex situ trees are not included in the tally of this species in Canada.
Figure 3. Canadian range of Betula lenta, in the Niagara Region of Ontario, and adjacent populations visited in New York State.
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