Tree of the Month - Erman’s Birch

Posted on: 19 December 2023

Erman's Birch is native to North Asia and Japan with a range up to Siberia. It has bright green heart shaped leaves and creamy, yellow-white bark which flakes in thin strips providing year-round interest.  It sprouts early in spring, followed by striking, yellow autumn colouring. Male and female catkins also appear with the leaves. The tree is known as the Russian Rock Birch due to its ability to colonise in thin, poor soils.  They are valuable wildlife trees for birds, bees and some butterflies.

One currently stands at 16m tall with a girth of 1.72m and its current carbon storage is calculated to be 722kg C or 2.62T CO₂. The other is slightly smaller at 12.61m tall, 1.05m in girth and 212Kg Carbon stored. The poorer of the two trees receives less light and may sit on shallower soil over these features which may be resulting in its decline, however Birch as a species are very tough.  They can survive in very inhospitable climates and on poor soil.  One may unfortunately just be naturally declining faster.

There is a replacement plan in progress for it, which will be a beautiful specimen tree.  The works involve consultation and supervision by the College Archaeologist and Dublin City Council.  In the past, the Parliament Square (or Front Square) lawns have both been subject to ground penetrating radar surveys, revealing objects of archaeological interest such as walls, cobbled surfaces, brick layers and fragments of 17^th and 18^th century pottery.

This year, as part of the No-mow May campaign, a very rare orchid popped up in the lawn of one of these trees along with some more common orchids.  The lawn was left to go wild for an extended period to allow them to set seed. During this time, our Estates and Facilities team collect seedlings of this Birch tree.  In January, we’ll fill you in with what we plan to do with the seedlings so stay tuned!  

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