Habitat

• native to northern China, Korea, Japan
• zone 5

Habit and Form

• 40' to 60' tall, deciduous
• rounded canopy with spreading branches
• single or multiple trunks
• casts relatively light shade
• medium texture

Summer Foliage

• alternate, simple leaves
• 2" to 4" long, 1.5 to 2.5" wide, ovate shape
• dark green and glabrous upper surface
• dentate-serrate margins

Autumn Foliage

• fairly uniform and showy yellow

Flowers

• blooms in April, but visible before bloom
• monoecious: male and female catkins
• not showy, but interesting

Fruit

• small nutlets borne in cylindrical catkins

Bark

• very showy and interesting
• similar to B. nigra bark
• on younger branches exfoliates in thin curls
• on older branches it puffs on the trunk in blocks resembling vermiculite
• color is mixture of orange, silver, gray and brown

Culture

• tolerant of dry, gravelly, unfertile soils
• easy to grow
• best in full sun
• avoid high pH soil to prevent chlorosis

Landscape Use

• specimen
• lawn tree for smaller yards
• for showy bark
• increasing in popularity in the northeastern United States
• plant singly or in small groupings

Liabilities

• chlorosis on high pH soils
• some feel the tree lacks vigor or is short-lived, although this is not a consensus opinion
• rare, so may be hard to locate for purchase

ID Features

• unique exfoliating bark
• could be confused with B. nigra due to similar bark, but B. nigra has a wedged-shaped leaf base, while B. davurica has a more rounded leaf base.

Propagation

• easily grown from seed
• stratification enhances germination

Cultivars/Varieties

• None