Birch
Betula pubescens
Birch is the first tree kind which formed forests after the last ice age in Scandinavia. Therefore, the Preboreal period is also called “the birch period”.
Birch exists all over Norway and is probably the most common tree in the country. It is easy to recognize with its white and black coloured trunk. The birch rarely gets very old, nor especially big. However, it is great at drinking water – it works as a living drainage in moist areas.
There are two different kinds of birch, which thrive in different areas. The downy birch is perhaps the most widely known and grown in the lowlands. The mountain birch is shorter and more crooked and grows near the mountains.