They are 2.5 to 6 inches long, glossy and dark green above and paler and hairy on the veins beneath, occurring in pairs on lateral spur shoots on older branches. This species exhibits the best autumn color of all commonly cultivated birches, turning a rich, golden yellow in the fall. Fruits ripen by early fall and the seeds are wind-dispersed.
Older trees have grayish-black bark with thin, irregular, scaly plates.
Sweet birch is native to the eastern woods from southern Quebec, southern Ontario and southern Maine, south to the Appalachian Mountains in northern Alabama and Georgia. It tolerates the heavy soils of the Midwest. Although the sweet birch is resistant to the bronze birch borer, it is susceptible to most pests and diseases common to birches including birch skeletonizer, leaf miner, seed gall mite, canker, leaf rust and leaf spot. Birches are easily damaged by ice and snow breakage. It is hard, medium-heavy and strong, but tends to warp and is difficult to season.