Identify by feature
Tree with a white trunk: which one is it?
A tree with a white trunk is almost always a birch – silver birch or downy birch – or, with dark diamonds on greyish-white bark and leaves that are white underneath, a white poplar or grey poplar.
4 species with this feature
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Silver birch Betula pendula
Broadleaf tree
White with black patches; at the base of the trunk black, deeply fissured, diamond-patterned bark.
Native
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Downy birch Betula pubescens
Broadleaf tree
White to greyish-white, without the black, deeply fissured diamonds at the base.
Native
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White poplar Populus alba
Broadleaf tree
Whitish-grey with rows of dark, diamond-shaped lenticels; dark and fissured at the base of the trunk.
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Grey poplar Populus × canescens
Broadleaf tree
Whitish grey with rows of dark, diamond-shaped lenticels; dark and furrowed at the base of the trunk.
Native
Tip: Silver birch has black, deeply furrowed diamonds at the foot of the trunk and hanging twigs with warts; downy birch stays whiter down to the ground and grows on wet soil.