Betu is Celtic for tree. The Latin name pendula derives from the drooping appearance of young twigs. 

During the Victorian era the birch evolved into a symbol of meekness, femininity and grace.

Birch is sometimes called “the nephritic tree”, as a diuretic tea from its young leaves cures infections of the urinary tract, reduces water retention and dissolves kidney stones. It is also used to treat gout, rheumatism, and arthritis. Place fresh bark against the skin to relieve muscle pain.

A wine fermented from the sap was credited with medicinal properties. Wood and bark can be distilled to give birch tar used to make leather waterproof. The bark is waterproof and used in tanning.

9,000 year old wads of chewed birch resin have been found in the floor of a hut used by Stone Age hunter gatherers. In ancient Rome, birch was a symbol or power and authority, and its branches were carried on an ax ahead of Roman processions containing an important person. These were called fasces, hence the modern term fascist. In Scandinavia, birch was considered one of the trees sacred to Thor, a branch before your house protected you from lightening, the evil eye, gout and barrenness.

The durable, yellowish-white wood has been used throughout Europe for skis, clogs, fuel, and cellulose. The sap is used in the Ukraine to make wine, soft drinks, and health tonics. Norwegians shingled roofs with birch bark, and in Lapland it was used to make clothing. Indigenous peoples of the Kamchatka Peninsula (east coast of the USSR) ate the inner bark. In Russia the bark was considered a durable paper for family records. Birch-bark tar was used to glue broken clay pots in Roman Britain. The birch was an especially crucial tree in the Scottish Highlands. Highlanders made houses, furniture, mills, carts, ploughs, fences, and rope with it; used it as fuel for distilling whisky; and preferred its spray for smoking ham and herrings. The spray was taken to thatch houses, and was put on bottom of cooking pots for soups and stews to prevent meat from sticking, like a Teflon. The bark was twisted into a rope used instead of candles. Birch was also employed in broom-making and thus sometimes carries an association with witches. In Scotland the first curling brooms were made of birch. The birch is “shaved” to make bristles, these can even be used in the kitchen as a whisk. Birch resin contains zylitol, a disinfectant Finns now sell as a natural tooth cleaner. The resin glands are harvested for use in hair lotion.

DISCLAIMER: This page is intended for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for accurate diagnosis and treatment by a qualified health care professional. The author is neither a chemist nor an herbalist and has had no medical training whatsoever. The content herein is the product of research, not practical experience.