Paper Birch
Betula papyrifera · Trees - Deciduous
Paper birch
New Hampshire, 10 October 2020
The bark peels in horizontal sheets because it grows that way - laid down in thin layers that separate as the trunk expands, curling back to show the orange underside. The horizontal dashes are lenticels, pores that let the trunk breathe through otherwise waterproof bark.
That waterproofing is the point. Birch bark is so resistant to rot that it outlasts the wood inside it, and you find hollow bark tubes on the forest floor with the trunk long gone. It is also why it was the material for canoes.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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