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Micropropagation of Birches (Betula spp.)

  • Chapter
High-Tech and Micropropagation II

Part of the book series: Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry ((AGRICULTURE,volume 18))

Abstract

The genus Betula belongs to the family Betulaceae and consists of about 65 species (Hegi 1981). Birches are deciduous trees or shrubs with a size of 0.5 m (B. nana) to 40 m (B. papyrifera) and a maximum stem diameter up to 1.2 m (Schenck 1939; Preston 1961; Krüssmann 1976). Typical characteristics are the horizontally elongated lenticels and often the peeling in thin papery layers (Preston 1961) of the white, gray, yellowish, reddish, dark red or brown-colored bark (Schenck 1939). Birches are comparatively short-lived, with a maximum age up to 90–120 years (B. pendula) (Hegi 1981) and 300 years (B. lutea = B. alleghaniensis) (Schenck 1939). Birches are monoecious and anemophilous (Hegi 1981). The basic chromosome number of the genus Betula is x = 14. Diploid species with 2x = 28 are B. pendula and B. nana. Other species are polyploid. Examples of tetraploidy (2n = 4x = 56) are B. pubescens and B. davurica, and for hexaploidy (2n = 6x = 84) B. grossa and B. lutea (= B. alleghaniensis). The varieties of B. papyrifera have 56, 70, or 84 chromosomes. Hybrids between B. pendula and B. pubescens are triploid (2n = 3x = 42) (Rohmeder and Schönbach 1959).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Tree Breeding, Lower Saxony Forest Research Institute, W-3513, Staufenberg-Escherode, Germany

    A. Meier-Dinkel

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  1. A. Meier-Dinkel
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  1. A-137, 110065, New Friends Colony, New Delhi, India

    Y. P. S. Bajaj

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© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Meier-Dinkel, A. (1992). Micropropagation of Birches (Betula spp.). In: Bajaj, Y.P.S. (eds) High-Tech and Micropropagation II. Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, vol 18. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76422-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-76422-6_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-76424-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-76422-6

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