Finnish birch 1.

Pihla Gross  Silver Birch tree

http://www.degreeart.com/users/pihla-gross

 

The Finnish national tree is birch. It grows all over the country from lush southern parts to most northern Lapland fells. It seems to be all around you, you grow up with it. It is part of your internal and external  landscape.

The silver birch (Betula pendula), with its striking white bark, lush green leaves and gracefully drooping branches, is perhaps the most beautiful native tree in Finland’s forests, so it came as no surprise when the winner of the vote to choose the country’s national tree was announced in 1988.

 

My brother planted a line of 15-20 birch trees to border one side of our plot of land. In addition one birch tree was planted in the front of the house. Over the years the trees grew to be really beautiful and grand.

For the Midsummer celebration each side of the front door was decorated by a birch tree. And naturally we smoothed ourselves in sauna with a bunch of birch twigs which gave out a lovely aroma. Sauna's wood-burner stove was filled with birch wood to give  lovely heat. Nostalgic childhood memories. 

 

Finnish  birch is used for many purposes  like  buildings, floorings, boat building, pieces of furniture and many Design objects just to mention few end products.

 Finnish  birch is different from Baltic birch.

Birch plywood is made from laminations of birch veneer. It is light but strong, and has many other good properties. Birch plywood is used to make longboards (skateboard), giving it a strong yet flexible ride. It is also used (often in very thin grades with many laminations) for making model aircraft.

Extracts of birch are used for flavouring or leather oil, and in cosmetics such as soap or shampoo. In the past, commercial oil of wintergreen (methyl salicylate) was made from the sweet birch (Betula lenta).

 

Birch-tar or Russian oil extracted from birch bark is thermoplastic and waterproof; it was used as a glue on, for example, arrows, and also for medicinal purposes

 

Fragrant twigs of silver birch are used in saunas to relax the muscles.

 

Birch leaves are used to make a diuretic tea and extracts for dyes and cosmetics.

     Ground birch bark, fermented in sea water, is used for seasoning the woollen, hemp or linen sails and hemp rope of traditional Norwegian boats

 

Many of the Indians of North America prized the birch for its bark, which due to its light weight, flexibility, and the ease with which it could be stripped from fallen trees, was often used for the construction of strong, waterproof but lightweight canoes, bowls, and wigwams.

 

The Hughes H-4 Hercules was made mostly of birch wood, despite its better-known moniker, "The Spruce Goose".

 

Birch plywood was specified by the BBC as the only wood that can be used in making the cabinets of the long-lived LS3/5A loudspeaker.

 

Birch sap is a traditional drink in Northern Europe, Russia, and Northern China. The sap is also bottled and sold commercially. Birch sap can be used to make birch syrup, which is used like maple syrup for pancakes and waffles. Birch wood can be used to smoke foods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birch