Shrubby birch in Polissia
Betula humilis
Red Data Book of Ukraine: vulnerable
The shrubby birch is a shrub up to two metres tall that looks nothing like an ordinary birch. Its bark is dark, its leaves small, round and toothed. The catkins are small and upright.
The shrubby birch grows in lowland and transitional bogs, especially where groundwater comes to the surface. It is a rare plant that has survived since the last glaciation. In Ukraine it occurs mainly in Polissia, in particular on the bogs of Volyn and Rivne region.
The shrubby birch is one of the so-called relict plants, of which there are few in Polissia. Their presence indicates valuable, little-disturbed bogs.
The shrubby birch is listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine. The main threats to it are bog drainage and peat extraction.
When to see: May–September
Where it was seen in Polissia
Observations from the open scientific database GBIF since 1990. Locations are shown approximately, to within 10 km.
More in “Plants”
Common juniper
A coniferous shrub of Polissia's pine forests with prickly needles and blue “berries” (berry-like cones).
Silver birch
One of the most widespread trees of Polissia: it colonises clearings and abandoned fields and forms light birch groves.
Scots pine
The main tree of Polissia: pine forests on sand define the look of the region from Volyn to Chernihiv region.
Sphagnum moss
The peat moss that Polissia's bogs are made of: it stores water and over millennia forms peat.