This is the well-known silver birch with its silvery trunk and glossy dark green leaves on drooping branchlets which cast a dappled shade. The white bark is marked and cracked on its lower portions, smoother higher up, especially in younger trees. On older trees the bark develops black fissures and a heavier effect. It looks attractive in a natural group in the garden rather than as an isolated specimen.
Height 15m (49ft), Spread 8m (26ft).