Cultural Significance
Silver Birch is Finland's national tree. Occasionally one uses leafy, fragrant boughs of Silver Birch to gently beat oneself in a sauna. The boughs are called vihta or vasta. This has a relaxing effect on the muscles.
Land of the Silver Birch is a traditional Canadian folk song, though the birch referred to is actually a different species, Paper Birch Betula papyrifera.
In Sweden, the bark of birch trees was ground up and used to make a form of bread. The removal of bark was at one time so widespread that Carl Linnaeus expressed his concern for the survival of the woodlands.
Read more about this topic: Betula Pendula
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