The BARK is a bronze or shiny brown color. On large trunks, the BARK forms large plates. Male catkins are about 1 inch long, form in the fall, and flower in the spring. Small samaras ripen in paper cones, about 1-1.5 inches long, in the late summer. Like paper birch, the samaras look like little turkey feet with hairs on the margins.
Hemlock has very similar site requirements.
The Latin name in some older books is Betula lutea . The BARK is very shreddy, curling away up and down the stem. The terminal buds are pointy with several bud scales . The male catkins appear in the spring only, unlike the birches and ironwood. Blunt BUDS may be different sizes.